UNIVERSITY OF 
ILLINOIS LI3RARY 

AT , U , R -;- CAMPAIGN 

ILL HIST. SURVEY 






. 



A STANDARD HISTORY 

OF 

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ILLINOIS 



An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular 

Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, 

Industrial, Civic and Social Development. 

A Chronicle of the People, with 

Family Lineage and Memoirs 



J. R. STEWART 

Supervising Editor 

Assisted by a Board of Advisory Editors 



70LUME II 






ILLUSTRATED 



THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 

1918 



. 

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/, 



CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 



JUDGE J. 0. CUNNINGHAM. The publishers and editors of this work 
feel that only a meager tribute can be paid to the memory of Champaign 
County's most beloved citizen in the following brief review of his life. 
Judge Cunningham was a great historian. He contributed liberally to 
historical literature, was himself the author of a History of Champaign 
County, and in the closing months of his life he gave generously from the 
riches of his great collection and from his experience and memory in an 
advisory capacity to the compilation of the present work. 

Joseph Oscar Cunningham was born at Lancaster in Erie County, New 
York, December 12, 1830, and died at his home, 922 West Green Street, 
Urbana, on April 30, 1917, when in his eighty-seventh year. He was a son 
of Hiram Way and Eunice (Brown) Cunningham. Some of his early life 
was spent in northern Ohio, where he attended Baldwin Institute at Berea 
and also Oberlin College. In June, 1853, at the age of twenty-two, he came 
to Champaign County, and from that time forward his home was at Urbana. 
He had previously taught in the village school at Eugene, Indiana, but a 
month after his arrival at Urbana became associated as one of the proprie- 
tors and editors of the Urbana Union. He was -a member of this firm of 
Cunningham & Flynn until 1858, and in August of that year became asso- 
ciated with J. W. Scroggs in the publication of the Central Illinois Gazette 
at Champaign, a village then known as Western Urbana. 

In April, 1855, Mr. Cunningham was admitted to the bar. In 1859 he 
received his law degree from the Union Law School of Cleveland, Ohio. 
After his admission to practice it is said he never missed a single term in 
court for forty-seven years. He was admitted to the Supreme Court of the 
United States in 1880. He was a member successively of the law firms of 
Sim & Cunningham, Cunningham & Weber and Cunningham & Boggs. 
He finally retired from active practice in 1905. 

The title by which he was so long known in Champaign County was a 
mark of respect, though it was based actually upon official service as judge 
of the Champaign County courts. He was elected to that office on an 
independent ticket in 1861 and served four years. At the time of his death 
he was the only surviving member of the original Board of Trustees of the 
University of Illinois. He was first appointed a trustee by Governor 
Oglesby in 1867, and was reappointed by Governor Palmer in 1871. For 
six years he served as a member of its executive committee. The university 
always claimed much of his time and interest, and for fifty years he was 
its devoted friend. Another institution which claimed some of his services 
was McKendree College at Lebanon, Illinois, which he served as trustee 
during 1897-98. 

Judge Cunningham was a member of the General Conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in 1896 and 1900. He was a member of the 
Mississippi Valley Historical Society and the Illinois State Historical 
Society. He distinguished himself by his ability as a collector and writer 

527 



528 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

on historical subjects and delivered many addresses before the State His- 
torical Society and before Masonic and legal associations. On June 27, 
1900, he delivered an address at Norwalk, Ohio, before the Firelands His- 
torical Society on the occasion of its forty-fourth annual meeting. He was 
one of the founders and was vice president of the Illinois State Historical 
Society, and two of his most notable addresses were read before that society 
in 1902 and 1905. In collaboration with William C. Jones he prepared 
Jones & Cunningham's Practice, a volume on County and Probate Court 
Practice, the first edition of which was printed in 1883. Second and 
third editions were issued in 1892 and 1903. His History of Champaign 
County was published in 1905. After the publication of that work he 
continued to gather many new matters and data bearing upon the local and 
general history of Champaign County. 

Judge Cunningham had been an active member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church since 1866. A permanent monument to his memory is the 
result of his donation in 1894 to the Woman's Home Missionary Society of 
the Illinois Conference of the home in which he and his wife had resided 
for twenty-five years. This is a large place on Cunningham Avenue, north 
of Urbana, and was donated to the church to be used as a home for home- 
less children. The building, with a tract of fifteen acres, valued at $15,000, 
now has the name of the Cunningham Orphanage. The missionary society 
instructs and trains the children of the home. 

When the Urbana Park Commission began its work of preserving beauty 
spots in Urbana, Judge Cunningham made the city a present of fifteen 
acres of land adjoining Crystal Park Lake and now comprising that portion 
at the north end of the park which is distinguished by a beautiful winding 
drive and boulevard. 

Judge Cunningham was married at Bainbridge, Ohio, October 13, 1853, 
to Miss Mary M. McConoughey. Judge Cunningham was for a number 
of years master of Urbana Lodge of Masons and also a member of the 
Urbana Knights Templar Commandery. He began voting as a Whig, sub- 
sequently was a Eepublican, but from 1873 was an independent, though 
a pronounced advocate of the principles of the Prohibition party. 

It would be impossible within the scope of this article to describe all 
the interests and associations that made Judge Cunningham a part of 
Champaign County. In conclusion should be quoted the words of one of 
the local papers used at the time of his death : 

"The end of a long and fruitful life, the life of a friend of the immortal 
Abraham Lincoln, came at 11 :30 o'clock Monday night when a two weeks' 
illness resulted in the death of Judge J. 0. Cunningham, one of the oldest 
and best known citizens of Champaign County. 

"As Judge Cunningham had lived, so did he die, surrounded by his 
beloved books, a library such as none other in the State and probably in 
the United States, containing as it does some of the rarest old historical 
works obtainable, collected during a long life of research along historical 
lines. Some of the rarest volumes in the collection have to do with the 
life of Mr. Lincoln, who was a close friend of Mr. Cunningham in the 
pioneer days of Champaign County when Mr. Lincoln came to Urbana to 
attend the court. 

"A number of years ago Judge Cunningham had a large room added 
to the rear of his residence as his library, and during his last illness he had 
his bed in this room, and at his request the last obsequies over his body were 
observed there. 

"In the death of Judge Cunningham one of the greatest minds of the 
State is sealed forever. During his life scholars from many places of 
learning, sat at the feet of Judge Cunningham to draw -from the immense 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 529 

storehouse of his memory details of local and State history forgotten by 
other minds as old as Judge Cunningham's but more feeble. Not only was 
he familiar with intimate bits of information regarding the life of the 
greatest American statesman, but he made it a part of his life to remember 
details of history of his home city and was able to tell many Urbana people 
things that they did not know about their own forebears, details that would 
have been lost had it not been for Judge Cunningham's interest in preserv- 
ing them. Many of his recollections of days long gone are preserved in 
historical works compiled by Judge Cunningham." 

WILLIAM W. EARNEST. Firmly intrenched in the American heart is 
the public school system, which, while not perfect perhaps, is continually 
being improved, largely as the result of the efforts of conscientious, intel- 
lectual leaders. The city of Champaign in its superintendent of schools 
has a well qualified, constructive man, a graduate of the University of 
Illinois and a thorough teacher as well as executive. He is William W. 
Earnest, who has occupied this responsible office for the past nine years. 

William W. Earnest was born in Mississippi, October 1, 1863, one of a 
family of three children born to his parents, who were John W. and 
Julia J. (Woolley) Earnest. Both parents were natives of Illinois, the 
father born in Sangamon and the mother in Greene County. Both 
are now deceased, the death of the father occurring in 1902. He was one 
of the argonauts who, in 1850, went to California in search of gold, of 
which he found enough to pay for his time, and he had many interesting 
experiences and adventures. From California he returned to Illinois, but 
afterward went to Mississippi and was engaged in managing sawmills 
there at the outbreak of the war between the states and found it impossible 
to escape from a situation embarrassing to a northern man until the 
opening of the Mississippi and Yazoo mines in the spring of 1864. Later 
on he followed the peaceful pursuits of- agriculture in Macoupin County, 
Illinois. 

William W. Earnest attended the public schools of Greenfield, and 
after completing the high school course and a college course in the Val- 
paraiso University he was engaged for a number of years in teaching in 
country and village schools and in the management of the Western Normal 
College of Bushnell, Illinois, as well as in the superintendency of the city 
schools of Macomb. Afterward he entered the University of Illinois, from 
which institution he was graduated in 1908, shortly afterward accepting 
the superintendency of the city public schools of Champaign. 

In many ways Mr. Earnest has proved his superior qualifications, not 
the least of these being his record for constructive service, he being in the 
lead in all hopeful and vitally important movements in relation to the 
efficiency of the schools. He is not only a man educationally trained but 
one of broad mind, social understanding and civic responsibility. He is 
popular with the teachers under his management and enjoys the confidence 
of parents and pupils. In his political affiliation Mr. Earnest has always 
been a Republican but practically takes little part in advancing the inter- 
ests of any office seeker. Fraternally, he is a Mason and a member of 
the Presbyterian Church. In meeting Mr. Earnest the visitor receives 
an impression of strong individuality, conscientious acceptance of respon- 
sibility and unusual modesty as to his achievements. 

EDWIN S. SWIGAKT, a former mayor of the city of Champaign, is a 
thorough business man, and his reputation as a successful manager of large 
and important interests was one of the chief reasons why the people of 
Champaign desired him as their mayor. 



530 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

A native of Illinois, he was born near Farmer City in DeWitt County, 
December 11, 1861. His parents, Jacob and Eebecca (Davis) Swigart, 
were both born in Ohio. Jacob Swigart, who was born in 1827 and died in 
1907, removed to DeWitt County, Illinois, in 1847. Rebecca Davis was 
taken to DeWitt County in 1837, when a small child, and she is still living, 
being now one of the oldest settlers of that county. Jacob Swigart followed 
farming during his active career, and became well known in politics and 
business affairs. In 1868 he was elected a member of the State Legislature. 

In a family of nine children, Edwin S. Swigart was the sixth in order 
of birth. His early advantages were those of the common schools of DeWitt 
County and for three years he was a student in Lombard College at Gales- 
burg. He had considerable experience as a farmer, and after his marriage 
in 1885 he remained on the home place for a year. 

Mr. Swigart was one of the organizers of the Creamery Package Com- 
pany, then located at Morrison, Illinois, and for a time he gave this business 
his entire time and energies. The company has since grown to very large 
proportions, and now has its main offices in Chicago. For six years Mr. 
Swigart was associated with his father in the management of a private bank 
at De Land, Piatt County. In May, 1896, with J. W. Armstrong and J. W. 
Orr, Mr.' Swigart bought an interest in the Citizens Bank of Champaign. 
This is now the Citizens State Bank. He was actively associated as one 
of the bank's managers for three years. Mr. Swigart now has numerous 
business interests, especially in farm lands, and owns some of the best and 
most profitable acreage in Champaign and Piatt counties. 

In 1900 he was supervisor of the census in this congressional district. 
He was first elected to the office of mayor of Champaign in 1903, and his 
creditable work in that office was fresh in the minds of the people when in 
1915 he was again chosen to the same position. He served until May 1, 
1917, when the commission form of government was adopted by the city. 

On September 3, 1885, Mr. Swigart married Miss Nellie Lapham, a 
native of Whiteside County, Illinois. They are the parents of two children : 
Alta C., wife of D. T. Hoskins, Jr., of Lincoln, Nebraska; and Faith, still 
at home. Mr. Swigart is a Republican in politics and is affiliated with the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. 

Louis ARTHUR BUSCH. The legal profession of Champaign County 
and the civic government of Urbana have a worthy representative in the 
person of Louis Arthur Busch, state's attorney. A native of the city of 
TIrbana, he has passed his entire life here, and his career among its 
citizens is looked upon as particularly worthy, as he has trod the hard 
self-made road to success and has triumphed over a number of discourag- 
ing obstacles which have arisen in his path. A member of the legal 
brotherhood since 1908, he has made rapid advancement in his calling, 
and since 1912 has been the incumbent of the official position which he 
now occupies. 

Louis Arthur Busch was born June 4, 1886, at Urbana, Champaign 
County, Illinois, and is a son of Carl T. and Carolina S. (Hank) Busch. 
His father was born in Prussia, Germany, and was a child when brought 
to America in 1868, the family originally locating at Champaign, where 
ike was reared and received his education in the public schools. Upon 
his removal to Urbana, in young manhood, he embarked in the furniture 
business, and continued tp be identified with that enterprise during the 
remaining years of his life, his death occuring June 8, 1896. Mr. Busch 
was a Democrat in his political views, but not an active participant in 
politics. He religious faith was that of the Lutheran Church, in which 
his children were carefully reared. Mrs. Busch, who survives her husband 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 531 

and resides at No. 411 West Main Street, Urbana, was born in Germany, 
July 3, 1861, and was brought to the United States by her parents in 
1868. She has been the mother of seven children, as follows: Carl C., 
William L., Mrs. Emma (Busch) Lange, Mrs. Minnie (Busch) Baker, 
Louis Arthur and Mrs. Bertha (Busch) Foesterling, and Henry, who died 
as an infant. 

After completing the curriculum of the graded schools and spending 
one year in high school, Louis Arthur Busch, then a lad of fifteen years, 
became identified with the furniture business, to which he had been given 
an introduction some years before in his father's store. He had lost his 
father by death when he was ten years of age, and he therefore had not 
enjoyed the privileges in an educational way which would have otherwise 
been his. However, he was desirous of obtaining a good education, having 
set his ambitions upon a professional career, and through his industry 
and continued effort managed, in 1905, to enter the University of Illinois, 
as a special student. For three years he took law and preparatory studies, 
and in 1908 duly completed his course and was graduated, whereupon he 
entered upon the practice of his profession at Champaign. Being earnest 
and industrious, he not only gained for himself a good clientele, but 
attracted to himself the attention of a number of representative men, who 
saw in him good official timber and eventually persuaded him to allow 
his name to be used as a candidate for the office of state's attorney. To 
this office he was duly elected December 2, 1912, and in the same position 
he has continued to serve to the present time. He has proven a most 
excellent official, his value to the community being enhanced by his com- 
prehensive knowledge of his calling, his conscientious performance of his 
responsibilities and the fearless manner in which he attacks the duties of 
his office. Among" his professional associates, Mr. Busch bears a good 
reputation as an adherent of the best ethics of the law, as a valuable 
fellow counsel and as a worthy opponent. 

On February 2, 1910, Mr. Busch was united in marriage in Shelby 
County, Illinois, with Miss Laura Wascher, who was born at Champaign, 
Illinois, August 5, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Busch are the parents of two 
sons and one daughter, namely: Arthur, who was born November 1, 1912; 
Robert, born March 6, 1914; and Barbara, born December 24, 1915. Mr. 
and Mrs. Busch are members of the Lutheran Church, and Mr. Busch 
belongs to the church council and is active in its work. His political 
support is given to the candidates and policies of the Democratic party. 
During Governor Richard Yates' administration he was appointed law 
clerk of the House of Representatives for two terms. As a fraternalist 
he holds membership in the local lodges of the Masons, the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. 

G. W. HARTSOCK. The record of a true and upright Christian gentle- 
man, a man of more than ordinary business acumen fortified by years of 
industry, is that of G. W. Hartsock, who with his noble wife is now spending 
years of retirement at their home on Belle Avenue in the City of Rantoul. 

Mr. Hartsock was born in Greene County, Ohio, son of David and Sarah 
J. (Cornell) Hartsock, both natives of Ohio. His grandfather, Sylvanus 
Cornell, was a soldier of the War of 1812 under General Harrison, and for 
many years he drew a pension until his death. G. W. Hartsock had a district 
school education. He was one of the following family of sons and daugh- 
ters : Jessie L., Sylvanus, Ruth A., Elizabeth, Flora, Eli and G. W. Flora 
and Eli are both deceased. 

As a young man G. W. Hartsock, hoping to obtain better conditions in 
the region of cheaper lands, made a visit to his uncle at Clinton in DeWitt 



532 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

County, Illinois. His investigations extended as far as Rantoul, where he 
was particularly impressed with the outlook, and he bought eighty acres of 
land at $13.50 an acre. Having made this purchase he went back to Ohio 
and then came on with a covered wagon and his only companion was "Dash," 
an English terrier dog. This dog was a most faithful animal and in a way 
was the foundation of Mr. Hartsock's fortune. Mr. Hartsock had a French 
neighbor who possessed a large store of grain, but much of it was being 
destroyed by the rats. He succeeded in persuading young Hartsock to 
exchange the English terrier for twenty bushels of rye, and thus the owner- 
ship of the dog changed hands and the rye was put to, good use by 
Mr. Hartsock. 

Soon after starting from his Ohio home Mr. Hartsock met the man who 
had made his wagon. This wagonmaker volunteered the information that 
within three months the youth would be back at home asking for bread and 
butter from his parents. To this the young pioneer rejoined: "Jake, sink 
or swim, survive or perish, I'll never do that. I'm going to stay." While 
a boy at home Mr. Hartsock was very much attached to his mother and had 
to bear considerable ridicule on that account. Some of his companions also 
called him "General," and said they wondered at his willingness to leave 
home, though they admired his pluck. 

On June 5, 1871, Mr. Hartsock laid the foundation of his own home by 
his marriage to Miss Emogene Soper. She was born in Lake County, Illinois, 
a daughter of Orange P. and Jerusha I. (Abell) Soper. Her grandfather, 
Remember E. Soper, was also a soldier of the War of 1812. After a very 
determined courtship Mr. Hartsock had won the consent of this young lady 
to become his wife and they started away from the vicinity of Gifford for 
Urbana, the county seat, to obtain a license and get married. After making 
the trip they learned that the only minister in town was away at the confer- 
ence. Finally, after hunting around some time, they discovered MT. 
McElroy, a minister of the Methodist Church, who solemnized their bonds. 

The young couple began housekeeping in the northwest quarter of sec- 
tion 26 of Harwood Township. They had hope and faith, unlimited indus- 
try, and the years have fully justified them in all their plans and ambitions. 
Their means enabled them to buy another eighty acres, then forty acres, 
and they finally bought six acres adjoining the town of Rantoul. Mr. Hart- 
sock's landed estate now comprises 240 acres of as fine land as can be found 
in the State of Illinois and worth $250 an acre. 

Seven children were born into their home, two of whom died in infancy. 

Sylvanus L. Hartsock, the first child, is now deceased. He married 
Anna Lapham of Indiana and she survived with two children, Charles 
Walter and Esther Ruth, 

Olive M., the oldest of those living, is now Mrs. Reynolds and the 
mother of the following children: Lula L., Hurley, Emogene, Volney, 
Gladys, George, Flossie, Teddy, Orange, Lucy May, Belzoria, Velma Doris, 
and Floy Myrul and Loy Bural, twins, but Loy Bural is deceased. Orange 
and Lucy May are both now deceased. Lula is married and has a child 
named Marvin, and Emogene is also married. Gladys is now Mrs. Leon 
Conley and Hurley E. is a soldier in the United States army in the First 
Cavalry, Troop D, and stationed with his troop at Fort D. A. Russell, 
Wyoming. 

The next child, Asa, died in infancy. David 0. lives in Pocahontas 
County, Iowa, and by his marriage to Tillie Gehrt of Peoria has two chil- 
dren, Raymond and Hazel. 

Sarah A. Hartsock is the wife of Isaac Funkhouser and has a son, 
Marion. 

Caroline E. is the wife of R. L. Carr, and they live on an eighty-acre 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 533 

farm belonging to her father in Champaign County. Their children are 
two in number, Evelyn and Layton. 

Amos S. Hartsock, the youngest child, is a farmer in Pocahoixtas 
County, Iowa. He married Sadie Shaveland and has a bright little son 
named Harlan, now four years of age. 

Mr. G. W. Hartsock has been a sturdy supporter of the Republican party 
for fully half a century. His first presidential vote was given to Stephen A. 
Douglas. He has reared his sons to support the principles which he has 
believed right and just and to respect and honor all those things which 
are the essential elements of good citizenship and good character. Mr. 
Hartsock has been public spirited in all his community actions, has served 
as road commissioner and school director and his liberal prosperity has not 
been for himself alone, but for the benefit of the community in general. 
Since retiring from the farm he and his good wife have enjoyed the comforts 
of a pleasant home in Rantoul. 

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of their long and worthy lives has 
been their devotion to church and Christianity. Mrs. Hartsock was the 
first to join the Christian Church at Gifford, while Mr. Hartsock and their 
two children followed her into the church the next fall. At that time the 
people of the Christian denomination worshiped in a schoolhouse. Mr. 
Hartsock soon took the lead in circulating a petition for the building of a 
church at Gifford. This petition met with hearty response and in a few 
years they were able to dedicate a fine church and the little organization 
has been growing in all the years. Mr. Hartsock has served as an elder and 
trustee and has ordered his entire life to conform to the principles of true 
Christian manhood. After coming to Rantoul he encouraged the building 
of an addition to the local church, and gave $300 for that purpose. He 
has filled the office of elder and trustee in the Rantoul church and is now 
one of the elders. For many years Mr. Hartsock and wife have made it a 
rule to pay out one-tenth of their income for church purposes, and the 
payment of this tithe has constituted one of the most enduring satisfac- 
tions of their lives. Along with active work in the church Mr. Hartsock 
has given equally ardent advocacy of the cause of temperance, and he has 
never neglected an opportunity to work for the fulfillment of that cause. 
The record of such a man is above all value and estimate as an example 
and a source of good to Jiis community and particularly to his children 
and descendants. 

JAMES A. TALBOTT has not only achieved that success represented by 
large land holdings and rich and prosperous farms, but also the riches of 
friendship and community esteem. All this is well indicated by the title 
affectionately bestowed upon him and most people know him as "Uncle 
Jimmie" Talbott. Mr. Talbott and his family reside in Harwood Town- 
ship, in section 36, near Gifford, but his farm possessions spread over a 
large area and include 1,600 acres of choice Illinois soil. 

Mr. Talbott is a native of West Virginia, and was the fourth of eight 
children born to J. V. and Sarah (Parsons) Talbott. He is of English 
stock on both sides and the families have been in America for many genera- 
tions. Mr. James A. Talbott grew up in West Virginia and attended a 
school known as the Wise school, from the name of the land owner there. 
He was still young when his parents, in April, 1865, left West Virginia, 
soon after the surrender of Lee's army, and migrated to Illinois. They 
heard the news of Lincoln's assassination on arriving at Danville. J. V. 
Talbott bought ninety acres of land in Middle Fork Township in Vermilion 
County, paying $25 an acre. The family encountered many hardships and 
privations. J. V. Talbott had always suffered somewhat delicate health 



534 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

and the change of climate not agreeing with him he died in 1866, after 
about a year of residence in Illinois. He was a man of fine character, 
and in the brief time spent in Illinois had acquired a large circle of 
friends. His widow afterwards visited relatives in California and was 
taken ill and died in that state. When James A. Talbott was thirty years 
of age he married Ruthie LeFever. Mrs. Talbott at her death left four 
young children, named Charles V., Lucy A., Frank W. and Earl P. These 
children were educated in the Corliss district schools of Champaign County. 
Mr. Corliss had leased the ground for the school for a period of twenty-five 
years, and after the lease expired the name was changed to the Talbott 
school, in honor of this Talbott family. 

For his second wife Mr. Talbott married Mrs. Eliza J. LeFever. She 
was born in Marion County, Ohio, seven miles from the city of Marion, 
daughter of Charles L. and Mary (Duckweiler) LeFever. Her father was 
a native of Germany and her mother of Pennsylvania. 

After his marriage Mr. Talbott began housekeeping on a farm of eighty 
acres, for which he paid $20 an acre. It was prairie land in the midst of 
sloughs and without improvements. He bought the land from J. C. Shel- 
don. Here he began the sturdy work of improvement, erecting a small 
house, planting trees, and in the course of time has developed one of the 
attractive farm homes which stands as a monument to his industry. 

Mrs. Talbott first married Isaac LeFever. They lived at Sugar Grove 
in Champaign County. By her first husband Mrs. Talbott has two chil- 
dren : Minnie A. and Ross W. LeFever. Minnie is the wife of Louis 
Schmitt, a farmer in Iowa, and their three children are named Florence, 
Ray and Loren. Ross LeFever is a farmer in Harwood Township and by 
his marriage to Effie George has a daughter, Beula May. 

Of Mr. Talbott's children by his first marriage Charles V. is a farmer 
in Vermilion County. He married Laura Smith and has two children, 
Asher and Hattie. Lucy A. is the wife of Emanuel Rowe, a Harwood 
Township farmer, and has a son, Orene. Frank W. Talbott also lives in 
Vermilion County and married Ollie Shellenbarger. Their children were 
Ethel, Grace, Walter, Ray, Carl, Roy and Ruth. Mrs. Ollie Talbott died 
at the birth of her daughter Ruth. Earl P. Talbott is a resident of 
Champaign County on a farm. He married Bertha Harper and has a 
daughter, Viola. 

Mr. and Mrs. Talbott give their active support to the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church at Gifford. In politics he is a stanch Democrat and believes 
that President Wilson is the man of the hour and entitled to the full con- 
fidence and support of a united country. Mr. Talbott served fourteen 
years as school director, two years as road commissioner, and at one time 
was elected justice of the peace, but on account of his business duties was 
obliged to decline the honor. 

Mr. and Mrs. Talbott have co-operated in their efforts to rear their 
children to useful lives and instill in them the principles of loyal American 
citizenship. They have a most hospitable home and are well known 
throughout the county. One of Mr. Talbott's close friends was the late 
Judge Cunningham, who, he says, was one of the finest judges and citizens 
Champaign County ever had. 

Mr. Talbott's success as a farmer needs no special demonstration. He 
has shown consummate ability in getting the most out of the soil without 
destroying its fertility and has built up a large estate of 1,600 acres.- In 
1872 he located a half section of land near Wichita, Kansas, and he has 
traveled widely over the different states and is thoroughly acquainted with 
agricultural conditions elsewhere as well as in Champaign County. 

Mr. and Mrs. Talbott may now be found enjoying the comforts of a 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 535 

fine home a mile and a half north of Gifford. They look back upon days 
well and profitably spent. Mrs. Talbott was for nine years a widow after 
the death of her first husband and after her marriage to Mr. Talbott she 
took care of his orphan children, kept them in school, and her own chil- 
dren and her husband's grew up in congenial companionship. Mrs. Talbott 
was a close friend of Mr. Talbott's first wife and she and Mr. LeFever 
stood up with the couple when they married. 

HEBEE JUDSON MOREHOUSE. In acknowledging the valuable services of 
Mr. Morehouse as a member of the advisory board of editors in this pub- 
lication, the publishers are but doing justice in presenting an appropriate 
sketch of his career. Mr. Morehouse has been a resident of Champaign 
County for over forty years, has always taken a keen interest in the county's 
affairs and can speak with authority on the many varied developments of 
his time, especially in and around Mahomet. 

Mr. Morehouse was born in Ionia County, Michigan, May 18, 1856, a 
son of Albert F. and Sarah C. (Freeman) Morehouse. He was next to the 
youngest in a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, five of 
whom are still living. He is the only member of the family in Champaign 
County. 

His father was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1818 and died in 1901. 
He had limited education and as a youth was apprenticed to learn the trade 
of carpenter and joiner. He became an expert carpenter and he also pos- 
sessed that judgment and energy which ^made for a successful business 
career. He married at Troy, New York, and afterwards moved west to 
Portland, Michigan, where he did a large business as carpenter and con- 
tractor. Many houses in that section of the state still stand to testify to 
his skill and ability. He acquired considerable farm and town property 
and was also a popular citizen. For forty years he filled the office of 
justice of the peace and at the time of his death he was secretary of his 
Masonic lodge and had filled that office for many years. He was also chair- 
man of the Michigan State Historical Society, and his son Heber now has 
the gavel presented his father by the society. He was one of the leading 
members of the Baptist Church and a deacon. His death occurred in 
Portland, Michigan, and he and his wife both rest in the local cemetery 
there. His wife was a native of New York, but finished her education in 
the Female Academy at Bennington, Vermont. She was born in 1818 and 
died in 1900. 

Heber J. Morehouse spent his early youth in Ionia County, Michigan, 
and while there had the advantages of the common and high schools of 
Portland. It was in 1875 that he came to Champaign County and took up 
the vocation of agriculture. For sixteen years he was one of the successful 
teachers of the county. 

On October 17, 1876, he married Miss Laura E- Abbott. They are the 
parents of five children, one son and four daughters, all living. Myrta E., 
the oldest, was educated in the Mahomet High School and for six years 
was a teacher in the country and city schools of that county. She is now 
the wife of Charles W. Dale, editor of the St. Joseph Record in Champaign 
County. Their three children are Ralph E., Virginia and Kent. Both are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Sylva W., the second child, 
is a graduate of the Mahomet High School and is the wife of Frank 0. 
Benson, cashier of the lola State Bank at lola, Kansas. Their children 
are named Jesse C., Laura E. and Frank M. Nelle R., who graduated 
from the Mahomet High School and from Brown's Business College at 
Champaign, was an able assistant to her father in his business for some 
years, but is now the wife of E. W. Morrison, a farmer in Mahomet Town- 



536 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ship. They have a youthful son, Heber J. The only son of Mr. Morehouse 
is Chester A., fourth in order of birth. Further reference to his career is 
made in the following paragraphs. Mary, the youngest child and 
daughter, pursued her studies in the Mahomet High School and is the 
wife of Clark I. Pfiester, a farmer at Mahomet. Their two children are 
Paul M. and Charles W. Mrs. Pfiester is a member of the Baptist 
Church. 

Chester A. Morehouse has for some years been actively associated with 
his father in business. He received a good educational training in the 
local high school and is also a graduate of Brown's Business College. He 
is a young man of more than ordinary business ability and also takes an 
active part in the affairs of his home town. He is superintendent of the 
Baptist Sunday school and an active member of that church, and is also 
scout master of the local organization of Boy Scouts, numbering about 
thirty. In July, 1916, he took the military training at the Plattsburg 
camp at Lake Champlain, New York, and on November 16, 1916, he stood 
a successful examination at Chicago for a commission in the Reserve Corps. 
He was the seventieth man commissioned in the Central Department and 
now enjoys the rank and title of captain in the Quartermaster's Corps of 
the United States Army. Fraternally he is affiliated with Mahomet Lodge 
No. 529, I. 0. O..F., Camp No. 2247, Modern Woodmen of America, which 
he is serving as consul, and is a member of Sioux Tribe No. 313 of the 
Improved Order of Red Men at Urbana. He is a Republican, and cast 
his first vote for William H. Taft. He married a popular Urbana girl, 
Miss Roma Renner, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Renner of Urbana. 
Mrs. Morehouse was born in Champaign and is a liberally educated and 
cultured young woman. She graduated from the Thornburn High School 
with the class of 1906, and afterwards specialized in vocal and instrumental 
music, studying a year under Professor Beresford in Chicago. She is one 
of the most finished contralto singers in Champaign County. 

Mrs. H. J. Morehouse was born in Champaign County, October 2, 1858, 
a daughter of Stephen C. and Mary E. (Rea) Abbott. She was reared 
and educated in this county and had a high school training. Mrs. More- 
house is an active member of the Baptist Church and was formerly director 
of its choir. 

In 1892 Mr. Morehouse engaged for a short time in the manufacture 
of tile and brick, but from that entered the real estate, loan and insurance 
business, and for years his office at Mahomet has been the medium for 
many large transactions in those lines. For twenty years he has held a 
commission as notary public. Mr. and Mrs. Morehouse own about 300 
acres of rich land in Champaign County and also have their comfortable 
home and other properties in Mahomet. When Mr. Morehouse came to 
Mahomet forty-two years ago his cash capital was very limited, but by 
strict economy and good business management, and with the aid of his 
capable wife, he has been blessed with a goodly competence. In 1898 he 
engaged in the undertaking business, buying the interests of J. C. Pittman 
at Mahomet. In the same year he was given a diploma in a school of 
embalming and he and his son Chester have since conducted the leading 
business of this kind at Mahomet. 

In politics Mr. Morehouse is a stanch Republican and for years has 
filled official places in the town and village. He is a member and clerk of 
the local camp of Modern Woodmen of America and is a member and 
director of the Court of Honor at Mahomet. He has always been one of 
the leaders of the Baptist Church, has served as deacon and treasurer, and 
takes especial pride in the fact that he has had one class in the Sunday 
school for thirty-six consecutive years. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 537 

A. P. JOHNSON. Among the learned professions there are, probably, 
none that demand so much tact, judgment, patience, natural executive 
ability and specialized knowledge as that of the educator. The individual 
who enters into this field, selecting it as his chosen life work and calling, 
must be prepared to make many sacrifices, to endure numerous disap- 
pointments, to often spend himself for others without apparent return of 
gratitude, and to give the best years of his life often without the emolu- 
ments that equal efforts would in all probability bring in any other pro- 
fession. It is a vocation for which there are no weights and measures. 
The material with which it deals is the youth of our land upon which im- 
pressions are often eternal and which affords the man who would serve the 
race an opportunity than which there are none greater. Of the men of 
Champaign County who have dedicated their lives to this work, one of the 
best known is A. P. Johnson, superintendent of the public schools of the 
city of Urbana. 

Born December 16, 1863, in Sussex County, Delaware, A. P. Johnson, 
is a son of Benjamin and Sarah (Smith) Johnson. On both sides of the 
family he is descended from English ancestors, and his ancestors lived 
for many years in Delaware, where both his parents were born. Benja- 
min Johnson was a fanner by vocation and in 1873, feeling that the fer- 
tile fields of Illinois would yield him a fortune, he came to this state and 
settled on a farm in Mahomet Township, Champaign County, where the 
remainder of his life was passed in the tilling of the soil and the raising 
of crops and cattle. He was a good farmer and expert judge of cattle, 
an honorable man of business and public-spirited citizen, and a man who 
had the confidence and respect of his fellows. His death occurred in 1907. 
In his political affiliation he was a Republican, and he and Mrs. Johnson, 
who died in 1880, were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
There were six children in the family, namely: Charles, who is engaged 
in farming in Michigan; Mary, Stewart and Eliza, who are all deceased; 
A. P., of this notice; and Willard, who is a railroad locomotive engineer 
and makes his home at Decatur, Illinois. 

A. P. Johnson was ten years of age when brought to Illinois by his 
parents, and here his education was commenced in the public schools. 
When he was seventeen years of age he began to do a man's work in the 
fields, at a monthly wage, although he continued his studies during the 
winter terms, and when he was nineteen years of age had so far progressed 
that he entered upon his career as an educator. While he was engaged in 
teaching in the country schools of Champaign County, during the winter 
months, when he could spare the time, and during vacations, he furthered 
his own education by attendance at the Illinois State Normal University, 
the Indiana Normal School, the University of Illinois and the University 
of Chicago, although at no time did he give up his teaching. Thus he 
was enabled to pay his own way through for a comprehensive education, 
while at the same time he was enlightening the minds of the youths of his 
community. In 1900 Mr. Johnson .was made superintendent of the 
schools of Gibson City, a position which he retained for six years, and in 
1906 was called to Urbana to act in the same capacity. He has retained 
this position ever since, a matter now of eleven years, and from the start 
has sought to better conditions in every way and advance the educational 
standard. A thorough student of the science of education, and possessed 
of a natural instinct for child psychology, Mr. Johnson has made his 
schools a living, growing organism responsive to the best in both the 
teacher and the pupil. Mr. Johnson is a Republican, but not a poli- 
tician. He is a Knight Templar Mason, a member of the Knights of 
Pythias, and an attendant of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he 
joined in his youth. 



538 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. Johnson was married August 20, 1890, to Miss Effie J. Obenchain, 
of Compromise Township, Champaign County, and to this union there 
has been born one daughter, Mary Pern, a graduate of the University of 
Illinois, class of 1916, in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and 
a graduate of the School of Music, University of Illinois, class of 1917. 
The Obenchain family has resided in Champaign County since 1854, 
when Edward S. Obenchain brought his wife overland in a wagon from 
Indiana. Here they passed their entire lives, Mrs. Johnson's father 
dying February 17, 1914, and her mother following him to the grave 
March 15 of the same year. For a number of years they lived in Com- 
promise Township, where Mr. Obenchain was a successful farmer, but in 
later years went to Penfield, where he was in the grain business. In his 
declining years he returned to Urbana, and here passed away. During his 
day he was one of the prominent men of his locality, and served for some 
years in the capacity of supervisor of Compromise Township. 

LEWIS D. OLIVER. Bankers and financiers have been happily compared 
to pendulums of commerce and progress, and it is very true that they furnish 
the stability and the steadiness chiefly required for the business world. 
Every financial institution acquires estimation and influence in its com- 
munity largely through the character and reputation of the men whose 
names are most intimately associated with the undertaking. 

One of Champaign County's most prosperous banks is the First State 
Bank of Fisher and the success and prosperity of that institution are in no 
small degree a reflection of the personal integrity and business standing 
of its vice president, Lewis D. Oliver. Mr. Oliver has been identified with 
Champaign County many years, and his activities have been of such char- 
acter as to merit the confidence reposed in him by a large community. 

He was born in McLean County, Illinois, January 20, 1857. He is 
the fifth in a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters, born 
to Jackson and Clarissa (Courtright) Oliver. Four of these children are 
still living. Henry is a retired agriculturist living at Hennessey, Okla- 
homa, is a Democrat in politics and is married. Leroy P. is a resident 
of Morristown, Indiana. John W. is an agriculturist, live stock breeder 
and dealer living at Ottawa, Kansas. 

Jackson Oliver was born in Ohio in 1817, grew up in that state, was 
educated in the common schools, and took up and successfully pursued for 
many years the vocation of agriculturist. He died in 1900. Politically 
he was a Democrat. It was in 1854 that he removed to McLean County, 
Illinois, and bought land which was the basis of his farming activities for 
many years. His religious home was the First Presbyterian Church. His 
wife was born in Ross County, Ohio, grew up in that state, and also was 
a Presbyterian. Her death occurred in 1896 and both she and her hus- 
band are buried at Leroy in McLean County, where a beautiful monument 
stands sacred to their memory. 

Lewis D. Oliver had a common school education. He began his active 
career in the environment where his youth was passed, and acquired a very 
thorough knowledge of farming and stock raising in McLean County. In 
1891 Mr. Oliver removed to Fisher in Champaign County, and from this 
locality he continued his interests and activities in the live stock industry 
for fifteen years. Mr. Oliver has sent many carloads of fat stock out 
of eastern Illinois and did much of his shipping direct to Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, through various Chicago commission houses, including Clark, 
Bowles & Company, the National Company and Rice Brothers. In live 
stock circles Mr. Oliver came to be rated as one of the most successful in 
Champaign County. 




THE FOUNDER OF THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK, CHAMPAIGN, TOGETHER WITH. PORTRAITS OF His SON, 
HENRY HICKMAN HARRIS, AND GRANDSONS, B. F. AND N". M. HARRIS 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 539 

He has been active in banking at Fisher since 1906, when he became 
cashier of the Farmers Exchange Bank. The president of that institu- 
tion was George W. Busey. Mr. Oliver continued as cashier until the 
incorporation of the First State Bank on April 23, 1913, when he assumed 
the post of vice president. He now gives much of his time to the manage- 
ment of the bank's affairs. His business interests also include extensive 
land holdings in Shelby and Vermilion counties, where he owns a total of 
680 acres. His home at Fisher is one of modern style and architecture 
and possesses every convenience. Mr. Oliver is also interested in the 
Farmers Grain Company's elevator at Fisher. 

In September, 1883, he married Miss Mary Phillips. Two children, 
both sons, have been born to their union. Walter was educated in the 
Fisher public schools and is now cashier of the First State Bank. While 
cashier he also took a business course at Brown's Business College at Bloom- 
ington, Illinois, and has thoroughly fitted himself for his duties as a 
banker. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Fisher. 
Edgar P., the other son, still at home, was educated in the common schools, 
and is assistant cashier of the First State Bank of Fisher. He is also a 
member of the Methodist Church. 

Mrs. Oliver was born in McLean County, Illinois, in 1863, a daughter 
of D. F. and Margaret Phillips. She was educated in the common schools. 
She takes a very active part in the Methodist Episcopal Church, is a 
member of the Ladies' Aid Society and the Foreign Missionary Society. 

Politically Mr. Oliver is a man of his own mind and listens to the 
dictates of his own judgment when it comes to casting his ballot. He is 
affiliated with Castle Hall Lodge No. 305 of the Knights of Pythias at 
Fisher, and is the present chancellor commander. Mr. Oliver is a trustee 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was a member of the building 
committee when the beautiful church edifice was erected in 1912, at a cost 
of $10,000. This is one of the modern churches of Champaign County and 
would be a credit to any locality. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HARRIS. Love of land, of peace and industry, 
cardinal virtues in the lives of men and nations, were ever present influ- 
ences in the long life of the late B. F. Harris of Champaign County. To 
say that he left "a good name" as a legacy to his family, is to state only part 
of the truth. It was a strong name, one that is ^ital today, and the mem- 
ory of it has an inspiration to all those who ha.ve the resolution and the 
will to labor in order to secure worthy places in their respective spheres. 

Without disparaging the remarkable material achievements associated 
with the name in Champaign County, there is need to emphasize the won- 
derful virility of the family stock and its permanence. America, and this 
is particularly true of the Middle West, can show comparatively few fami- 
lies who can take root and grow and flourish generation after generation in 
one spot. In fact mobility in population has been exalted in some quarters 
almost to a virtue. Of the Harris family five generations have lived in 
Champaign County, beginning with the father of B. F. Harris, Sr., and 
coming down to his great-grandchildren. More important still, each 
generation has amplified and expanded the interests of the preceding. The 
word virility is as applicable to the family today as it was when Champaign 
County was on the frontier. 

In 1916 there was held a simple ceremony at the University of Illinois, 
which attracted wide newspaper publicity even at a time when politics and 
a world war were the absorbing topics of conversation.. This was the 
hanging of the portrait and the name of B. F. Harris in the University 
Hall of Fame. It was a signal and worthy honor paid to this greatest of 



540 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Illinois farmers and stockmen. During this ceremony an address was read 
by Mr. B. F. Harris, the grandson, which contains as fully as any brief 
article could, the experiences and achievements of this Champaign County 
pioneer. In the preface to his address the grandson said : "No intimate 
acquaintance of his active years is either living or physically able to speak 
of him here wherefore I trust you will not feel that there is a lack of 
modesty in a grandson attempting a brief sketch and those personal allu- 
sions that must go into the permanent record." From this address it is 
possible to compile a brief biography and a more or less imperfect estimate 
of the real character of the man. While his life contained some events of 
the dramatic quality, it was continuously and exceedingly rich in those 
elements of manhood which constitute noblemen in all ages. 

Benjamin Franklin Harris was born December 15, 1811, on a farm in 
the Shenandoah Valley near Winchester and Harper's Ferry, Frederick 
County, Virginia. At the age of fifty-three he had retired from an ex- 
tremely active business life, but was keenly interested in business and public 
affairs for forty-two years more and was still strong in mental and 
physical vigor when he passed to the Great Beyond in his ninety-fourth 
year on May 7, 1905. 

He was the second of ten children of William Hickman and Elizabeth 
(Payne) Harris. His mother was an own cousin of Dolly (Payne) 
Madison. 

The family was of Scotch English extraction and Quakers and in this 
country became fighting Quakers, then Methodists. His great-grandfather 
William Harris with two brothers from England settled on the eastern. 
shore of Maryland in 1726. His grandfather Benjamin Harris died and 
his will is recorded at Winchester, Virginia. 

B. F. Harris grew to manhood on his father's Virginia farm, attending 
the country schools until sixteen years of age. At that time President 
Jackson's attitude towards the United States banks so seriously affected 
values that wheat declined from a dollar and a half to fifty cents and 
Virginia farm lands to less than one-third its former price. These de- 
clines so affected the father's obligations that he and his brothers each with 
a six horse team went into the "wagoning" or freighting business and for 
three years "wagoned" freight over that section and out through Pennsyl- 
vania and as far west as Zanesville, Ohio. This work they did in order to 
recoup their father's losses. On March 20, 1833, the Virginia farm was 
sold at forty per cent of its original cost. In a one-horse gig and a two- 
horse carry all the Harris family set out for Ohio, arriving at Springfield, 
April 8th and nearby purchased and settled upon their new farm. 

Within the same year B. F. Harris commenced business for himself, 
buying and driving cattle overland to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and there 
disposing of them to cattle feeders. 

In 1834 more than seventy years before his death, B. F. Harris started 
for Illinois by way of Danville, then through the present site of Sidney 
and Urbana (where was but one cabin) and on to what is now Monticello 
in Piatt County. During the ensuing year he began to accumulate farm- 
ing lands in Piatt and Champaign counties and to buy cattle through all 
this section and as far south and west as Mount Vernon, Vandalia and 
Springfield. For several seasons he bought for feeding purposes all the 
corn for sale in Macon, Sangamon and Champaign counties. Each year 
for nine years he drove these cattle overland by way of Muncie, .Indiana, 
and Springfield and Columbus, Ohio, into Pennsylvania and then to New 
York and Boston, where they were sold. Subsequently St. Louis and 
Chicago furnished a market, requiring a thirty day trip, and still later the 
railroads broadened the outlet. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 541 

When B. F. Harris came to this section of Illinois no stream was 
bridged, and only eleven families were on the Sangamon from its source 
to the limits of Piatt County. Fifteen years later not a half doaen men 
had erected their cabins a mile from the timber limits the deer and 
Indians were still at home there. It was the frontier, with all freight by 
river or team. In 1840 B. F. Harris visited Chicago, a town of two thou- 
sand people, on stilts in a swamp. Nineteen days were required for the 
round trip and the corn and wheat he teamed there sold for twenty and 
thirty cents a bushel respectively. Fifteen years after he came, not 
twenty-five per cent of the land in this county had passd from government 
ownership and the first railroad came twenty years later. The first public 
religious services in the western section of this county were held in his 
cabin. Promptly he had hewed and built the first church, 22x24 feet, 
and later converted into a permanent school. When it was necessary he 
built the larger church, Bethel, dedicated by his brother-in-law, General 
Granville Moody. For many years his home was the shelter of all 
itinerant preachers through this section. He writes that "the church 
business was looked after as well as any other business; I never lost any- 
thing by looking after the church and school." 

In those years it was customary to furnish farm laborers with whiskey 
daily, but he always refused to do this and instead added twelve and a 
half cents to each man's daily pay. 

B. F. Harris brought the first sawmill, mower, reaper, carriage, organ, 
brick, cook stove, to Champaign County. He never sought public office 
nor did he fill such office except in pioneer days as justice of the peace and 
supervisor, and as such helped hew the first courthouse. As justice of the 
peace he performed the few early marriages, dispensing simple justice on 
the one hand and calomel on the other. He came in the day of ox teams 
and lived to ride over his farm with his son, grandsons and great-grand- 
sons in an automobile. He voted for nineteen presidential candidates, 
beginning with Henry Clay. 

For nearly three quarters of a century he bought, fed and sold five 
hundred to two thousand head of cattle annually. He established the 
First National Bank in Champaign in 1865, but of that institution and 
his connection therewith a separate article must tell. B. F. Harris was 
one of the chief movers in the plans to raise Union troops in Champaign 
County, to locate railroads, to oppose bond repudiation, and to induce the 
location of the great State University. 

Personally he was a sociable man, fond of his friends and companions, 
and was full of anecdote and reminiscence, growing out of a remarkable 
experience. Peter Cartwright, Abraham Lincoln, David Davis, 
Isaac Funk, John Gillet and many other well known men were his friends 
and guests. He and Lincoln were long time friends and at the outset of 
the war he went on to Washington to encourage him in his stand. He was 
the guest of the President and at Lincoln's request attended a cabinet 
meeting and discussed the war situation with them. 

For all these things the true import of his career and its lesson was 
that life may be what we have the courage to make it that the "will to 
labor" with true zeal will bring results, and that the chiefest of 
these results are "the character" and "simplicities." Distinguished as he 
was in Champaign County, Illinois, and the nation, B. F. Harris acquired 
the true distinction of breadth, nobility and simplicity of character. 

As a livestock man B. F. Harris was preeminent. The Pittsburg Live- 
stock Journal speaking of his death referred to him as the "grand old man 
of the livestock trade the oldest and most successful cattle feeder in the 
world." This praise was well deserved. The New York Tribune in 
22 



542 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

October, 1853, referred to his prize winning drove of cattle averaging 1,965 
pounds, displayed at the New York World's Fair, then in session. His 
most famous herd consisted of a hundred cattle, the finest and heaviest 
hundred cattle ever raised and fattened in one lot by one man. These were 
weighed on his farm by Doctor Johns the president of the State Board of 
Agriculture on May 23, 1856, and the average weight of a hundred was 
2,378 pounds. Hundreds of visitors came from neighboring states to see 
these cattle. In the following February he sent twelve of these cattle to 
Chicago and the bunch averaged 2,786 pounds. A firm of Chicago butchers 
paraded these stock about Chicago's downtown streets. These were his 
conspicuous early achievements, but every few years he took cattle prizes 
or topped the market, and less than a year before his death his cattle re- 
ceived the highest prices for the season in the Chicago market. 

Writing editorially in the Champaign Daily Gazette, May 8, 1905, 
J. R. Stewart said :" 

"The death of a man devoted almost wholly to the private affairs of 
life will seldom attract the attention of so wide a circle of people as will 
that of B. F. Harris of this city. The reason is first that he lived to a 
remarkable age and second that he was a remarkable man. His long life 
journey was begun in 1811. He had few of the aids on which young men 
now so much rely. He had to rely on himself, a resource which seems 
never to have failed him, and one in which he had unlimited personal con- 
fidence. Life for him in its early age was not an easy battle. Nature, 
however, had furnished him with an extraordinary physical and mental 
equipment. 

"Everything to which Mr. Harris put his hand flourished. His judg- 
ment was so trustworthy that he made few business mistakes. He applied 
himself to real things and eschewed what men now call speculation. He 
did business on a cash basis and was never in debt. Operating on these, 
his chosen lines, he was a rich man long before his race was run, and he 
enjoyed a period of ease and entire freedom from anxiety much longer than 
falls to the lot of most men who are accounted fortunate in the world. An 
equally remarkable and gratifying thing was the retention of his won- 
derful faculties to the end of his life. 

"Thus came to his last account a man of extraordinary qualities in 
whatever light we may view him. He knew this portion of the state from 
the period of its rude, frontier aspect and he had a large share in its devel- 
opment into what we can see today. Every man has a niche to fill. No 
man could fill his better than B. F. Harris did. Measured fairly, we may 
say that nature does not often produce such a man. It will be long before 
this region sees another in all respects his equal." 

Another tribute that deserves quotation was that of Andrew S. Draper, 
former president of the University of Illinois. 

"Everyone recognized the fact that he had sterling qualities of heroic 
mold. He did things in days and circumstances when the doing of 
things required stalwart men and when the doing also made men still 
more stalwart. In this way the fine physical frame and splendid moral 
character with which nature endowed him were developed and seasoned to 
an extent which made him a notable man in the Mississippi Valley. It was 
a small number of such men as he who laid the foundation of the history of 
the Middle West, that great region of our country which is the richest 
in the resources and the most prolific in productivity. It is doubtless 
within the fact to say that no man within a hundred miles of you if, in- ' 
deed, in the State of Illinois, has been so richly entitled to be permanently 
and gratefully remembered. I am sure that it will be so for the common 
feeling of the people will have it so." 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 543 

The significance of his life as a farmer and its weighty contribution to 
the dignity of that calling, were happily expressed by the Breeders' 
Gazette as follows : 

"In literature, art, professional life, or politics a man with a record of 
achievement equal to that of the late Benjamin Franklin Harris would 
deservedly have numerous biographers. Many a man has been made the 
subject of bulky biography who might not measure up to him on any 
score. This is not because the most inviting and interesting personalities 
are found outside the farmer's calling, but largely because until recent 
years agriculture as a vocation had not been adequately appreciated by the 
public. It had not been sufficiently dignified to become the source of life 
histories. Other professions have furnished the candidates for the 
Plutarchs, and contributed the heroes and heroines famous in fiction. 
Farming has been drawn on principally for Philistines. Its great men, 
its geniuses, its Harrises have been overlooked by almost all writers worthy 
of putting their useful lives into books. 

"It is gratifying to all friends of agriculture that this vital and honor- 
able occupation at last has begun to take its rightful place in the list of 
man's employments. For the extremely gradual process which has wrought 
such a wholesome change in the popular estimate of farming, we are 
indebted to men of the Harris type farmers whose lives and work are a 
convincing reply to all the derogatory references ever made to agriculturists 
.and their business." 

And the grandson in his address chose to find in this the proper sig- 
nificance of the occasion. He said : "Out of the sentiment and spirit 
expressed by the Breeders' Gazette has come the Hall of Fame this desire 
on the part of the men of Illinois to put agriculture and the farmer in the 
high place that is theirs to make him and all our citizenship realize that 
the farm is the greatest place that God ever made on which to live honest, 
helpful, wholesome lives lives to be reckoned with, and without which 
we would not be here or elsewhere." 

Benjamin Franklin Harris was married June 17, 1841, to Elizabeth 
Sage, daughter of Colonel Harley Sage of Circleville, Ohio. He brought 
his bride to Champaign County and they located in their log cabin on the 
western limits of the county. On April 27, 1844, in this cabin their only 
child Henry Hickman Harris was born. Some years later B. F. Harris 
married Mary Heath of this county, the only living child of that marriage 
being Mrs. D. A. Phillippi of this city. 

HENRY HICKMAN HARRIS, who followed in his father's footsteps as a 
farmer and cattle feeder, and who, accepting the character and principles 
which his father had introduced into the First National Bank of Cham- 
paign at its founding, took it upon himself to apply these principles and 
broaden them for forty years, was born on the Sangamon Paver farm in 
Champaign County, where his father first settled. 

He was born on April 27, 1844, and lived seventy useful years, passing 
away July 15, 1914. 

Henry H. Harris was a stalwart citizen and under his skillful hands 
the fortune of his father had greatly increased and he had managed his 
varied interests and affairs, including the First National Bank in which he 
succeeded his father as president, in such a way as to justify his steward- 
ship, and all that came to him in the way of fortune and influence. His 
good judgment and wise administration carried the bank successfully 
through several financial panics. He was one of the organizing members 
of the Illinois Bankers Association and served as its president in 1908-09. 

He was for many years a member of the city council of Champaign 



544 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

and to his aggressiveness and good judgment the city is indebted for many 
of its best improvements. He served for a number of years as president 
of the Champaign County Fair Association and established that organiza- 
tion on a sound financial basis, having taken it in a bankrupt condition. 

While he was a man of decided opinions and a patriot, he was of a 
rather retiring disposition, never accepting any political office and refused 
some possible opportunities to become a public servant. He was especially 
helpful to young men, recognizing business acumen and honesty, and 
encouraging it in a substantial way. 

Henry Hickman Harris married Melissa Megrue, who was born near 
Cincinnati, Ohio, April 19, 1846, and is still living at Champaign. To 
them were born two sons, B. F. and Newton Megrue Harris, respectively 
president and vice-president of the First National Bank and worthy sons 
of a worthy father. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HARRIS, grandson of the late B. F. Harris and 
son of Henry Hickman Harris, was born on the old Harris farm in Cham- 
paign County, where his father was also a native, on September 30, 1868. 
He had of course liberal advantages during his youth and every incentive 
to make the best of his personal talents. Besides the common and high 
schools he attended the University of Illinois 1887 to 1889, and in 1892 
was graduated from the law department of Columbia University. The 
law was only part of his preparation for life, not a profession. He 
returned home to assist in the management of farm lands and business 
enterprises, and he has continued the work of his father and grandfather 
as livestock farmers and bankers. From 1892 to 1899 he owned and 
developed and consolidated all electric street railway, lighting, power and 
gas plants in the twin cities. He succeeded his father as president of 
the First National Bank of Champaign, and in 1911-12 he served as presi- 
dent of the Illinois Bankers Association and has identified himself actively 
with many of its most important committees. He has also served as 
chairman of the Agricultural Commission of the American Bankers As- 
sociation, and president of tihe Conference Committee on agricultural 
development and education of all state bankers associations. It was he 
who inaugurated the banker-farmer movement in 1908, and as the organizer 
of the Agricultural Commission of the American Bankers Association he 
held the post of chairman for five years. Mr. Harris also organized and 
edited the Banker-Farmer Magazine, which has a nationwide circulation. 

In addition to his part in this notable movement Mr. Harris has a 
further distinction which is likely as time goes by to become greater than 
any other. This is the distinction of being "the father of the county agent 
movement," which has rapidly spread all over the country until the county 
agent or agricultural adviser can be found in practically every progressive 
agricultural county in the country. While the need of systematic advice 
and cooperation between state and federal government and the individual 
farmer has been long recognized, it was Mr. Harris who definitely formu- 
lated the plan for such cooperation in the person of the county agent, and 
the great agricultural journals, including the Breeders' Gazette, the Prairie 
Farmer and others, have taken pains to emphasize Mr. Harris' leadership 
and the credit due him for inaugurating this movement. 

Mr. Harris has for many years been active in the propaganda in Illinois 
for securing the adequate supervision of private banks by .the state gov- 
ernment. He has written and spoken on banking and agricultural subjects 
and in that field he is without question one of the most competent author- 
ities in America today. He served three terms as president of the Cham- 
paign Chamber of Commerce. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 545 

Mr. Harris is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, is a 
thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, belongs to the University, the 
Union League and South Shore Country clubs of Chicago and is a member 
of the Methodist Church. He married December 5, 1895, Miss May Melish 
of Cincinnati, and to them were born Henry H. Harris, William Melish 
Harris, B. F. Harris, Jr., and Elizabeth Harris. He is vice-c'hairman of 
the Illinois State Council of Defense. 

NEWTON M. HARRIS, vice-president of the First National Bank of 
Champaign, was born in that city July 27, 1872, a son of the late Henry H. 
Harris and a grandson of B. F. Harris, Sr. He was liberally educated, 
being a graduate of Yale University with the class of 1895, and for fully 
a quarter of a century has been actively identified with the interests of 
the Harris family as farmers, stock raisers and bankers. During his 
father's life he shared the responsibilities of vice-president with his brother 
of the First National Bank, and still fills that post. 

Newton M. Harris married Mary Bruce Burnham, of the well known 
Burnham family of Champaign County elsewhere referred to. Mr. and 
Mrs. Harris are members of the Methodist and Presbyterian churches, 
respectively. Their three children are Bruce, Barbara B. and Mary Julia. 

Mr. Harris is a member of the Sons of American Revolution and is a 
thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner. 

FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CHAMPAIGN. In celebrating its semi-cen- 
tennial the First National Bank of Champaign issued a handsome booklet 
under the title "The Story of an Institution which is Fifty Years Old," 
written by Mr. Louis M. Tobin. This story with some condensation 
properly belongs in the History of Champaign County. The bank is 
entitled to it, and the public likewise. 

"It was founded by B. F. Harris. It has been carried on by his 
descendants upon his principles. It has become more than a bank it is 
an institution. That is what I would say if I had to write the story of 
the First National Bank of Champaign in a single, crisp paragraph. 

"The story of the First National is more than a mere chapter of 
material success. It is the reflection of the character of the men behind 
it. It is a personal story, because the bank was founded by B. F. Harris. 
A son and a grandson have followed him as its head. The third generation 
of his family owns it. It is the 'Harris' bank in fact. For fifty years it 
has reflected the principles and character of its founder." 

The historian of this bank must inquire: What have these fifty years 
meant to the community that has dealt with this bank? What has been 
the public spirit of this bank ? To answer these questions it is necessary 
to go back to the beginning, the Champaign of 1865, then hardly more 
than a frontier hamlet, with a population of fourteen hundred. B. F. 
Harris had decided to establish a bank. The decision in itself was not 
remarkable. Almost any one in that young community who desired could 
call himself a banker and open a bank. The importance of the decision 
was in the character of the man who made it, and in the kind of bank 
that he decided to establish. 

Banking in Champaign in 1865 was a precarious business for banker 
and depositor alike. Those were the days of "wildcat" currency, issued 
at the will of the banker, curtailed only by his credit at the printer's. The 
farmer ajid merchant encountered not only exorbitant interest rates but 
also faced constantly the prospect of bank failures. The legal interest 
rate was ten per cent, but real interest rates ranged from two to five per 
cent a month. Two banks in Champaign County had recently closed their 



546 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

doors, and in 1862 another bank had opened at Champaign, but it was 
operated on much the same old lines and in a few years it shared the fate 
of its predecessors. 

"B. F. Harris was not satisfied. A man of large interests he wanted 
a bank where his own money would be safely administered. A man whose 
character had been marked by deeds for the general good, he wanted a bank 
where the money of the people would be free from hazard. He knew that 
there must be another kind of banking from the current system. Men 
living here today will tell you that above everything else this pioneer 
abhorred the general custom of exacting as large an interest fee as could 
be secured from the needy borrower. Had B. F. Harris done so, there 
would have been no criticism. It was an accepted custom. But when 
he loaned his own money, he accepted the legal rate of interest, nothing 
more. 

"A national banking act had been passed, creating national banks under 
laws and regulations practically unchanged today. While many of the 
moneyed men of the county regarded the regulations imposed by the 
Government as an unjust interference with their business, the law did 
appeal to B. F. Harris. It was the kind of bank he wanted for his own 
money and for the people's money. He called together the men of the 
community he considered most likely to be interested. A charter was 
secured from the United States on January 30, 1865. It was signed by 
a man who counted B. F. Harris as a friend 'A. Lincoln.' It was 
numbered 913. 

"The new bank was located on Main Street in a frame building on the 
site of the Kuhn Building. The big 'cannon' stove defied the cornbelt 
winter. Around it often grouped the men of Champaign. A small safe, 
innocent of combinations, was the most important accessory. That safe 
is still preserved at one end of the banking room of the First National 
Bank Building. 

"It was not the intention of B. F. Harris to be the active head of the 
new bank. His interest had been to see a safe institution established. He 
was content to have another Harry Thomas serve as president. But 
in a year he took over the presidency. Some of the stockholders irked 
under the restrictions of the National Banking Act, pointing out the larger 
profits being made by the private banks and disliking the unexpected 
appearance of the bank examiner. But B. F. Harris set his foot down 
flat. The bank was to keep on its sober path. It was to charge only the 
legal rate of interest. It was to earn only reasonable dividends to its 
stockholders. It was to go along slowly and surely. It was to serve the 
community not to speculate on its funds or exact a heavy profit from its 
necessities. That was to be the policy of the First National. The dis- 
gruntled stockholders parted company. B. F. Harris took over the presi- 
dency. Within three years there were three private banks competing with 
the First National. But as Judge J. 0. Cunningham's History of Cham- 
paign County states, the First National 'came to the front as the first 
financial institution of the county.' 

"By 1872 the bank was moving into a new building of its own on its 
present site. So well was the policy of honest profit and service paying. 
And Time, the great adjuster, soon demonstrated that the theory of the 
other banking school was wrong the three private banks ingloriously 
passed out of existence. 

"The Harris policy came to mean that a bank was to be conducted on 
a theory that it had a public service to perform. That the best personal 
service was based on 'safety first' even if that expression was yet to be 
invented. That it was well to put stress on the character, rather than the 
wealth of the prospective borrower. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 547 

"In 1873, at the great panic, when all other banks in this locality had 
to close their doors, the young Henry H. Harris had refused to close. He 
knew that a bank which wouldn't give you your money when you wanted 
it and needed it, wasn't doing its public duty. And Henry H. Harris, 
then much older, knew that in 1907 during that brief financial flurry 
when the 'clearing house certificate' was born. The First National stood 
like a rock, refusing to use the certificates or drafts, paying cash on demand, 
and loaning to its regular customers at its invariable rate of six per cent. 
Never has the First National failed to meet all obligations in cash on 
demand. That's a pretty big thing to say for fifty years. The First 
National can say it truthfully." 

In many ways the First National has exercised its influence as a trustee 
of the community welfare. About twenty years ago, when the University 
of Illinois was in dire financial straits owing to the peculations of the Uni- 
versity treasurer, Henry H. Harris sent a message to the trustees request- 
ing them to send their warrants to the First National and that they would 
be cashed freely without discount until the state government had come to 
the aid of the university. The only memento of this favor is in the form 
of a letter from the secretary of the Board of Trustees of the University 
expressing their gratitude for the assistance rendered by the bank to the 
school during its recent financial trouble. 

"The Harrises have always been practical farmers. The bank as a 
matter of course long ago recognized the importance to the community of 
good agriculture. It has always cooperated with the farmer. Its officers 
could talk intelligently with him about his problems whether of financing 
or fanning. They showed their faith in the future of county land long 
ago by acquiring many acres. Today the First National is naturally and 
logically the bank of the Champaign County farmer." 

It has also proved an institution in time of need to the farmer. This 
was well illustrated during the dry year of 1913 when the farmers found 
it difficult to secure money to carry on their business or make necessary 
improvements. B. F. Harris, then vice president, sent out a circular 
letter which contained the following message: "We have so managed our 
affairs that despite the drought we are loaning and will loan at the same 
six per cent rate we have loaned for years. There is no better borrower 
than a good farmer. We are glad to cooperate with him." Thus the 
Harrises have the right to call the First National the "six per cent bank." 
It has been the "six per cent bank" not only in fair weather but in bad. 

The building occupied by the bank in 1872 served its purpose until 
about 1900 when it was remodeled. Then followed further growth and 
development and in 1910 the bank's business had assumed such propor- 
tions that the building was torn down and was replaced by a magnificent 
five story structure, in type and character and architectural design unsur- 
passed in the state as a banking home. 

Henry H. Harris, strong son of a strong father, did not live to see 
t!he bank celebrate its golden anniversary. The third generation took the 
rein. Another B. F. Harris became president. His brother Newton M. 
Harris is vice president. Hazen S. Capron is the cashier, following the 
long service of the late G. A. Turell. 

There is an atmosphere of efficiency about this bank. The men who 
run it are men of big interests as has been said men of large measures 
of broad minds they are able to think big. They are more than bankers. 
The Harrises have made successes in other undertakings, for they have 
diversified interests. The knowledge gained by handling their own varied 
holdings has been profitable to customers of the bank who come for counsel. 

In concluding this sketch of the oldest organized and continuous bank- 



548 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ing business in Champaign County a brief table of statistics may be 
appended, not to fortify the statements made above but as an illustration 
of what results flow from character and integrity in banking as in every- 
thing else. This table is a statement of deposits at the ten year intervals 
from the day the bank opened for business. 

January 30, 1865 $ 7,359.65 

January 2, 1875 114,022.62 

January 2, 1885 248,437.37 

January 2, 1895 460,875.23 

January 2, 1905 831,399.54 

January 2, 1915 1,626,274.38 

CHARLES B. JOHNSON, M. D. Valuable work in his profession and an 
unusual variety of experience contribute to make the career of Dr. C. B. 
Johnson one of note in Champaign County, where he has lived for the 
past forty-six years. Doctor Johnson is a veteran Union soldier, is grandson 
of a Revolutionary soldier, and' during the half century since he came out 
of the Northern army he has been in the active practice of medicine and 
is still a competent member of his profession and one of Champaign 
County's most useful citizens. 

Doctor Johnson was born at Pocahontas in Bond County, Illinois, Octo- 
ber 8, 1843. His grandfather, Charles Johnson, was a native of North 
Carolina, and went with the troops of that state to battle against the Brit- 
ish armies and the Tories in the times of the struggle for independence. 
Doctor Johnson's father was James Johnson, an early settler in Illinois 
and a farmer. In 1849 he went out to California when that was the mecca 
of gold seekers and adventurers from all parts of the world, and he died 
soon after his arrival on the gold coast. James Johnson married Elizabeth 
Jane Volentine. 

Doctor Johnson spent his early life on a farm, attended the public 
schools, and early showed a tendency and desire for studious pursuits. 

On August 7, 1862, he enlisted in Company F of the One Hundred 
Thirtieth Illinois Infantry. He was with that regiment in all its cam- 
paigns, marches and battles for more than three years. He was finally 
mustered out in August, 1865, several months after the close of actual 
hostilities. - On coming out of the army in 1865, Doctor Johnson con- 
tinued the medical studies he had previously begun, and in 1868 he 
began practice at Chatham in Sangamon County, Illinois. In 1871 
he removed to Champaign County and soon afterward, 'in 1872, he 
completed the regular course of study in the Medical College of Ohio, now 
the medical department of the University of Cincinnati, from which he 
was graduated with the M. D. degree. 

For the past thirty-eight years Doctor Johnson has practiced with home 
and offices in the city of Champaign, and he has become widely recognized 
as one of the leading physicians of the county. For many years he served 
on the Champaign County Pension Board, and he !has recently accepted 
the appointment as medical member of one of the Champaign County 
exemption boards. He was a member of the Illinois State Board of Health 
for eight years, from 1897 to 1905, and for two years was president of the 
board. 

Perhaps the work to which he has been most devoted in recent years 
has been that of the Champaign County Anti-Tuberculosis Health League. 
He is now president of this League and is also a member and president of 
the Board of Directors which has in charge the construction of the Cham- 
paign County Tuberculosis Sanitarium. In politics Doctor Johnson has 
always been staunchly aligned with the Republican party. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 549 

Doctor Johnson married January 1, 1874, Maria L. Lewis, of Chatham, 
Illinois. Their children are: Lewis W., born April 15, 1875; Charles 
Sunderland, born May 12, 1877; James Edward, born Marc'h 10, 1879; 
Fred Volentine, born December 3, 1880; Alice Sarah, born February 26, 
1884; and George Thompson, born March 6, 1886. The children all grew 
up in the atmosphere of the university city and they are all graduates of 
the University of Illinois. 

Doctor Johnson has devoted considerable time to literary pursuits, and 
has just published a very commendable book entitled "Muskets and 
Mediums," which is receiving a flattering patronage, and promises to 
fulfill every expectation of its author. He is an active member of the 
State Historical Society and is much interested in local history. 

THOMAS M. LYMAN gave many consecutive years to the management 
of an Illinois farm, and through hard work and intelligent management 
obtained the financial competence which enabled him a few years ago to 
retire from business and enjoy the comforts of a good 'home in the city 
of 'Champaign. 

Mr. Lyman was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, February 6, 1866. 
His parents, Bernard and Mary (McLennan) Lyman, were both natives of 
Ireland. His father came to America as a young man about 1854, lived 
for a time near Eaton, Ohio, and subsequently removed to Vermilion 
County, Illinois. He farmed a few years near Eidge Farm and made his 
farm in Champaign County the scene of his productive labors for many 
years. He died in Champaign County in 1904 and his wife passed away 
in 1902. Their children were: Lucinda, wife of John Martin, living in 
Adams County, Nebraska ; John, a retired farmer in Champaign ; Mary 
Jane, who died in childhood; Bridget, who married John W. Early, both 
now deceased; Thomas M.; William, deceased; Catherine,' deceased wife of 
James B. Hagan; and Mary, wife of William McMahon, of Champaign. 

Thomas M. Lyman was born in Vermilion County but was reared and 
educated in Champaign County. The country schools supplied his early 
instruction. He lived in the wholesome atmosphere of a farm and that 
was the vocation he took up when 'he started to make his own way in the 
world. Mr. Lyman was a progressive farmer until April, 1914, when he 
retired and removing to Champaign bought a fine home in that city. 

He was married January 29, 1895, to Miss Ellen J. Curtin. Mrs. 
Lyman was born in the city of Chicago, daughter of Michael and Ellen 
(Clancy) Curtin. Both parents were natives of Ireland. Her father 
came to America before the Civil War, first locating in Massachusetts and 
afterwards going to Chicago, where he was connected with the Allerton 
Packing Company for many years. He died in November, 1894, and Mrs. 
Lyman's mother passed away in December, 1903. They were the parents 
of ten children : Jeremiah, Thomas, Patrick, William, all deceased, and 
the fifth child, a son died in infancy ; Ellen, wife of Mr. Lyman ; James, 
of Chicago; John, of Chicago; Mary, wife of William P. Ward, of Cham- 
paign County; and the tenth and youngest, a daughter, died in infancy. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Lyman were born nine children: Mary A., now a 
student in the University of Illinois ; Bernard A., a member of the fresh- 
man class of the State University ; Helen J., deceased ; Margaret, deceased ; 
Julia Laurentine, deceased; Thomas M., deceased; Monica Lucile; Thomas 
Mark; and Frances L. 

Politically Mr. Lyman has always been a democrat. For nine years 
he served as road commissioner and is now a member of the drainage 
commission and has served in that capacity for ten years. He is affiliated 
with the Knights of Columbus, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the 



550 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Catholic Knights of America, and he and his family are devout members 
of Holy Cross Catholic Church. 

W. E. COLE is one of the former prominent business men of Champaign 
County now living retired. He and Mrs. Cole occupy a very attractive 
home on Belle Avenue in Eantoul. Mrs. Cole is a member of an old and 
prominent family of Champaign County, and is a sister of one of the 
foremost physicians and surgeons in the world, Dr. D. A. K. Steele, one of 
the founders of the University of Illinois medical department. Mrs. Cole 
and her brother both taught in the school at Rantoul and they are of a 
family of teachers, preachers and lawyers. 

A native of Canada, W. R. Cole was born at Adolphostown, a son of 
Conrad B. and Sarah Ann Cole. He was only an infant when his mother 
died. He grew up and received his early education at Nappanee, Canada, 
and at the age of twenty-six, in 1870, came from Kingston, Ontario, to 
Rantoul, Illinois, to visit his brother, L. B. Cole, who was at that time a 
coal, grain and lumber merchant. He assisted his brother in the business 
for several years. 

In 1872 Mr. Cole married Mary E. Lavinia Steele. She was born at 
Grandcote in Perry County, Illinois, daughter of Rev. Daniel and Mary 
Leatham Orr (Anderson) Steele. Her parents were natives of northern 
Ireland. Rev. Daniel Steele came to America in 1851, locating in Ohio, 
and in 1868 removing to Rantoul. He was a Presbyterian minister and 
for a number of years filled a pulpit in Rantoul. As the result of a run- 
away horse he sustained an injury which crippled him through his later 
years. He took up the drug business and employed Mr. W. R. Cole, and 
they were associated until his death on January 5, 1891. He was a man 
of exceptional character and ability and for many years was closely identi- 
fied with Rantoul. His fellow citizens showed their confidence in his 
judgment and integrity by electing him to a number of offices. Mrs. Cole's 
mother died February 13, 1899, at the advanced age of eighty-four years, 
two months and nineteen days. She was a noble character, and her many 
kindnesses endeared her to a large circle of friends. 

Mrs. Cole has only her one brother, above mentioned, Dr. Daniel Atkin- 
son King Steele, who was born in Delaware County, Ohio, March 29, 1852. 
He was graduated in medicine from the Chicago Medical College in 1873, 
and in 1906 was given the honorary degree LL. D. by the University of 
Illinois. He was one of the founders in 1882 and since 1894 has been 
president and professor of principles and practice of surgery and clinical 
surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the medical department 
of the Illinois University at Chicago. In 1907 he also became president 
of the University Hospital and for many years was professor of clinical 
surgery in the Post-Graduate Medical School. He is attending surgeon to 
various Chicago hospitals, was president of the Chicago Surgical Society 
in 1907, was president of the Chicago Medical Society in 1884-85, and by 
his skill as a surgeon and his researches in medicine his name is known 
world wide in the profession. He married Alice L. Tomlinson of Rantoul, 
September 7, 1876. She is a college trained woman and a cultured writer. 
Doctor and Mrs. Steele made a trip together around the world in 1912. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cole continued to reside in Rantoul. 
There were born into their home four children, named Mary Maude, Alice 
Bell, Lilly Lavinia and Daniel Thomas. Mary Maude graduated with 
honors and as valedictorian of her class from the Rantoul High School 
and then continued her studies in the University of Illinois, graduating 
as valedictorian of her class in that institution. As a result of her unusual 
ability she was given a scholarship and $400 to continue her studies and 
has attained the master's degree. She taught one year in the Rantoul High 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 551 

School and had taught several terms before finishing her education. She is 
now the wife of George Harvey Scott, who was a member of the same class 
in the Eantoul High School and was also in her class at the University of 
Illinois. Mr. Scott is now professor of mathematics in a college at Yank- 
ton, South Dakota, and has filled that chair for the past sixteen years. Mr. 
and Mrs. Scott have five children: William Arthur, Franklin Daniel, 
Irving Cole, Mary Elizabeth and Clara Lavinia. Irving C. died in infancy. 
William A. was a member of the United States army while guarding the 
Mexican border, was promoted from corporal to sergeant, and is now in 
the detail of the United States army destined for early action in France.- 
Franklin D., the second son, has distinguished himself as a youthful orator 
and has won prizes in high school and college oratorical contests at Yankton, 
Vermillion, Brooking and Mitchell, South Dakota. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cole lost their second and third children. Alice Bell 
died at the age of thirteen months and Lilly Lavinia at the age of eleven 
years. The youngest child, Daniel T. Cole, entered the medical department 
of the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1900, and was graduated in 1905. 
He is now a successful physician practicing at Odell, Illinois. He was 
recently appointed, with the rank of first lieutenant, to the Medical Eeserve 
Corps of the United States army. He is now located with the Medical 
Eeserve Corps at a base hospital somewhere in France. Dr. Daniel Cole 
married Miss Ethel Martin of Eantoul, and they have a daughter, Mary 
Lois. 

For thirty years Mr. W. E. Cole was successfully engaged in the drug 
business at Eantoul. Then desiring a change and having acquired a finan- 
cial competence, he exchanged his business property for land in Saline * 
County, Illinois. Since then he and his wife have enjoyed the comforts of 
a good home at Eantoul. They are members and liberal supporters of the 
First Congregational Church and for a number of years he has been a 
deacon. In politics he is -a stanch Eepublican. 

Mrs. Cole is one of the cultured women of Champaign County. She 
and her husband have traveled a great deal and have seen much of the 
beauty and grandeur of American scenery. She has always been interested 
in literature, especially poetry and history. It has been a task spread over 
many years to neatly compile some scrap books of the choice bits of informa- 
tion and literature which she has come across in her reading and these 
books already find increasing value with the passing years. Mr. and Mrs. 
Cole have been closely identified with Champaign County and their lives 
have meant much to the welfare of the little city of Eantoul, where they 
now reside and can look back over many years of happy associations and of 
good work well done. 

JOSEPH FULTZ, now living retired at Eantoul, has had a career filled 
with labors and ministrations of kindness, and has done what good he could 
as he went through the world. The practical side of his career has been 
as a farmer, and for a number of years he served as a local minister of the 
Methodist Church, a work of inestimable value which cannot be measured by 
any ordinary human standards. 

Mr. Fultz was born in Washington County, Indiana, a son of Frederick 
and Mary Fultz, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Indiana. 
Frederick Fultz was twice married, had eight children by his first wife and 
seven by the second. Joseph Fultz was the youngest of the first family. 
He was carefully reared, had a common school education and became a 
farmer even before he reached his majority. 

At the age of twenty-one Joseph Fultz married Mary Bottorff, daughter 
of James and Lydia Bottorff, both of whom were born near New Albany, 
Indiana. James Bottorff was of German parentage. After their marriage 



552 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Joseph and Mary Fultz began their wedded life on a farm in Washington 
County, Indiana, and farming was the work which Mr. Fultz pursued in 
order to provide the advantages and home life of his growing family. 

Eight children were born to them, Lewis B., Herman, Ernest, Elsie, 
Orval, Grover, Goldie and Vesta. All were students in the district schools 
of Indiana. Herman Fultz married Anna Oliver, located at Salem, Indiana, 
and had seven children, named Gertrude, Audrey, Ina, Helen, Ruby, Ever- 
ett and Fred. Lewis B. Fultz, who lives at Mount Pleasant, Michigan, 
married Viola Bennett, and their children are Chester, Glay, Wayne and 
Dale. Ernest Fultz, whose home is at Milford, Illinois, married Lottie 
Hilt, their five children being Claude, Howard, Glen, Carl and Derrel. 
Elsie married Elmer Bates, their home being in Michigan, and their three 
children are Marvel, Robert and Murriel. Orval is the wife of Louis 
Chaney, and they have a son, Victor. Grover married Roma Burkhardt, 
they live on a farm near Rantoul, and their four children are Clare, Dana, 
Dorothy and Erma. Goldie is the wife of Henry Sullivan, their home being 
on a farm near Rantoul, and their one child is Mildred. Vesta is the wife 
of Ed Gauntt, and they have a farm near Ludlow, Illinois. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fultz strained every effort and made many sacrifices in 
order that their children might be well reared and well trained for the 
duties and responsibilities of life. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fultz are active 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Fultz served as 
church trustee for a number of years. He was a township supervisor 
in Indiana, and politically he formerly voted as a Democrat but latterly 
has been a strong and ardent Prohibitionist and foresees in the near future 
the bright day when America will be committed to temperance, not only 
locally but nationally. 

Mr. Fultz's father donated land for the first Methodist Episcopal Church 
in his neighborhood in Washington County, Indiana. The passing years 
have witnessed three different churches built on the same plot of ground. 
In 1916 they dedicated a fine chapel. Perhaps the brightest memories of 
Joseph Fultz are the twelve years of service he gave to the church as local 
pastor. During that time he not only preached from the pulpit but vis- 
ited the sick, comforted the dying, baptized the converts, attended funerals, 
solemnized marriages, and found a host of Christian deeds ready for per- 
formance. His good wife shared with him in all these labors, and many a 
home has blessed their presence. 

SAMUEL P. ATKINSON. Perhaps Champaign has no more sturdy and 
progressive citizen than is found in Samuel P. Atkinson, manager of the 
S. P. Atkinson Monument Company. He is a thorough American, with a 
backing of colonial ancestry and Revolutionary stock; and is a veteran of 
the great struggle which prior to 1914 the people of the United States 
has called the saddest page on the world's history. Mr. Atkinson is a 
vigorous and able business man, but he is much more, for he has the 
true welfare of his city at heart and is zealously working to advance move- 
ments that will be of the greatest permanent benefit to the whole com- 
munity. His entire life has been a busy, useful and interesting one. 

Samuel P. Atkinson was born in Central Ohio, November 26, 1844. 
His parents were Peabody and Marenda (Elliott) Atkinson, both of whom 
were descendants of Revolutionary heroes and natives of New Hampshire. 
The old Atkinson homestead situated ten miles from Concord, New Hamp- 
shire, was the cause of a pilgrimage made by Samuel P. Atkinson in 1916, 
and in the vicinity, with other kindred of generations gone, rest the ashes 
of his grandfather, Joseph C. Atkinson. To Peabody Atkinson and wife 
seven children were born, namely: Henry and Mary, both of whom are 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 553 

deceased; Joseph, who is living in Ohio; George, who is deceased; Samuel 
P.; and Annie and Nettie, both of whom are deceased. The father of 
the above family died from an accident in August, 1863, and the mother 
passed away in 1866. 

Samuel P. Atkinson completed his junior year at Marietta College of 
Ohio, and entered the senior class at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New 
Hampshire, from which he graduated with high honors in June, 1866. 

In 1864, when the need of soldiers was the greatest, he with his two 
brothers, leaving their widowed mother alone upon the farm, enlisted in 
the One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving in 
the Army of the Potomac in Maryland and Virginia. When this regiment 
was mustered out more men were missing from its ranks in killed, wounded 
or prisoners of war than any regiment which left Licking County, Ohio, 
during the Civil War. Six soldiers in the Revolutionary War, three in 
the War of the Rebellion and six thus far in the present world's conflict 
is the quota from the Atkinson family for voluntary military service. 

After completing his collegiate course Mr. Atkinson went to Attica, 
Indiana, where he remained one year engaged in teaching school. On 
April 20, 1868, he came to Champaign and soon became interested in 
farming, and for twelve succeeding years cultivated his fields in the summer 
months and taught school in the winter seasons. In the spring of 1880 
he left the farm and engaged as salesman for J. W. Booker in the monu- 
ment business at Champaign. In 1881 he became a partner in the bus- 
iness.' He continued until 1884, when he sold his partnership interest to 
Mr. Booker and embarked in business for himself, purchasing the monu- 
ment business of Falls & Bagley. The S. P. Atkinson Monument Company 
is now located in the commodious building erected by Mr. Atkinson in 
1904 at No. 106 South Neil Street. He has occupied other excellent loca- 
tions, for the first four years at the corner of Taylor and Neil streets, 
where the Citizens' Bank is now located, after which he purchased the 
Flatiron Building, in which the Champaign Gazette is located, and which 
he still owns, but removed to his new site in 1904. 

Mr. Atkinson has had a long and honorable career as a successful bus- 
iness man, and has been interested in many of the city's most stable enter- 
prises. He has been a director in the Champaign Building and Loan 
Association, of which George W. Harwood is and has been the secretary, 
and attributes his success in a business way to this sure and safe way of 
acquiring a home and a competence. 

On August 8, 1894, Mr. Atkinson was united in marriage with Miss 
Emma Schultz, who was born in Champaign, Illinois, and they have two 
sons. Donald is a graduate of Champaign High School and attended the 
University of Illinois two years. He enlisted in the Ambulance Corps 
of the Regular Army June 7, 1917, and is now in training at Allentown, 
Pennsylvania, preparatory to service in France. Joseph, the other son, is 
a member of the Champaign High School, class of 1919. The family 
belong to the Congregational Church. In politics Mr. Atkinson is a 
Progressive Republican, and believes in clean politics and a progressive 
city. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Elks, the Grand Army 
of the Republic, and is a Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery Mason. 

HERMAN SCHWANDERMAN has his farm home in section 17 of Harwood 
Township, with postoffice at the village of Ludlow. He has contributed to 
the development and farm improvement of that locality for a number of 
years and he represents that sterling and industrious stock of people that 
came out of Germany. 

Mr. Schwanderman was born at Dewey, Illinois, a son of Leopold and 



554 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Rebecca Margaret (Behrens) Sehwanderman. The parents were both born 
in Germany, came to America in early life and married in this country. 
They had only two sons, twins, Herman and Henry, the latter died at 
the age of seven months. 

On December 25, Christmas Day, 1902, Herman Sehwanderman mar- 
ried Ruth Mary Dodson of Monticello, Wayne County, Kentucky. She was 
the oldest of the thirteen children of James R. and Harriet (Simpson) 
Dodson. Among her family Mrs. Sehwanderman was always called "Mollie." 

Mr. and Mrs. Sehwanderman married in Kentucky, and their wedding 
trip was the journey north to Champaign County, where Mr. and Mrs. 
Sehwanderman located in the home of his parents. They took charge of 
the farm of eighty acres and gave the tenderest care to Mr. and Mrs. 
Sehwanderman during the rest of their lives. This farm is the result of 
the accumulations and the hard work of Father and Mother Sehwander- 
man after they came to America. The elder Sehwanderman, who was born 
at Strassburg, Germany, died July 17, 1910, at the age of seventy-two, 
while his widow passed away . December 12, 1911. They were people of 
splendid character, industrious, good home makers, supporters of church 
and morality, and endeared themselves to their community in Champaign 
County by numerous acts of kindliness and neighborliness. 

Mr. and Mrs. Herman Sehwanderman have five children : George Leo- 
pold, James Clarence, Oliver Herman, Eliza Ray and Leland Glenn. They 
are a happy family of five boys, the oldest being thirteen years and now in 
the seventh grade of the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Sehwanderman are 
taking great pains to give them the best of advantages and the older ones 
are in the Griswold school. 

Mr. Schwanderman's ability as a farmer needs no comment. His well 
kept fields and his sleek stock show the care and enterprise of the thrifty 
agriculturist. In politics he is independent, voting for the best man. He 
was reared and has always retained his membership with the German 
Lutheran Church at Dewey, while Mrs. Sehwanderman is a Baptist, the 
faith in which she was reared. Mr. Sehwanderman believes in keeping up 
good schools and in giving the best of instruction to his children and is now 
filling a place on the local school board. 

WILLIAM B. KEUSINK is one of the younger business men of Cham- 
paign, has been a resident of the city most of his life, and since 1910 
has conducted a very successful drug business. 

He was born at Bloomington, Illinois, September 20, 1879, a son of 
William and Elizabeth (Lynch) Keusink. His father was a native of 
Schenectady, New York, and his mother of Utica, New York. William 
Keusink for a number of years conducted a laundry business in Cham- 
paign County, but is now living retired. He and his wife had two 
children, William B. and Wilhelmina, the latter the wife of H: C. John- 
son, of Champaign. 

His early education William B. Keusink obtained in the grammar and 
high schools of Champaign. After some preliminary experience he 
definitely determined on a vocation as a pharmacist and entered the Uni- 
versity of Illinois Pharmacy School in Chicago, where he was graduated 
in 1904. Returning to his home city he became a pharmacist with a local 
drug house until 1910, and at that date went into business for himself at 
the corner of West University Avenue and South Neil Street. He has 
a fine store, well equipped, and has always emphasized and sought in every 
way to improve the service of the pharmacy department. 

Mr. Keusink is a Republican in politics. He is a Thirty-second Degree 
Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine, belongs to the 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 555 

Elks Lodge and the Country Club, and is a member of the Episcopal 
Church. He married November 21, 1910, Miss Hazel M. Elliott, who 
was born at Arcola, Illinois. They have one child, Virginia Morse. 

ALEXANDER CRAIGMILE. Of the men whose ability, industry and fore- 
thought have added to the character, wealth and progress of Champaign 
County none deserves better mention than Alexander Craigmile, a veteran 
of the Union army, long and successfully identified with agriculture, and 
now with his good wife living retired in a comfortable home at Eantoul. 

His public spirited citizenship has stood every test of time and service. 
Forty years he has known Compromise Township, and during that time has 
again and again been chosen to fill places of trust and responsibility. He 
was elected to serve as assessor, collector, supervisor and road commis- 
sioner, and is now on his second term as justice of the peace at Rantoul, 
having been re-elected in April, 1917. He gave the best of his ability to 
the various offices, and his work in civil office has been characterized by the 
same fidelity which he displayed when following the flag of the Union 
during the Civil War. Mr. Craigmile is now commander of Seaver Post 
No. 253 of the Grand Army of the Republic at Rantoul. 

He is of Scotch nativity and ancestry, and was born near Aberdeen, 
Scotland, in 1843. When a child he immigrated with his parents to Upper 
Canada, and in 1852 the family came to Illinois. When Alexander Craig- 
mile was twenty-one years of age he enlisted at Chicago in Company D of 
the One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Illinois Infantry, and marched away to 
the sound of the fife and drum to protect his country's flag. He saw active 
service for upwards of a year and was finally mustered out at Springfield, 
Illinois, in October, 1865. Some idea of the service rendered is noted in 
quoting the contents of the Christmas card which Mr. Craigmile received 
in 1916 from Comrade C. C. Dudley of Minneapolis. This card reads: 
"To the playmates of my boyhood days, who knew no care or responsibility, 
and whose only burden was the long hours in the class rooms in Naperville 
Academy and who later put our names to the enlistment roll of Company D, 
One Hundred and Fifty-sixth Illinois Infantry, and saw Chattanooga, Look- 
out Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Dalton and Memphis, and then every 
man went his way to the sterner duties of life. To my old associates in 
business and friends in church and college and old comrades of Phil Kear- 
ney Post No. 7, who walked with me side by side, sharing one another's 
joys and sorrows. To my new friends of later days in Minneapolis, whose 
kind hospitality has made our stay so full of gladness and cheer ; I wish you 
all a joyous Christmas and a glad New Year. To the friends of a lifetime 
I count friendship one of the chiefest enjoyments of my life, a comfort 
in time of doubt and trouble, a joy in time of prosperity and success." 

Mr. Craigmile is a son of Alexander and Jean (Mitchell) Craigmile. 
He received his early education in Ontario, Canada, in DuPage County, 
Illinois, and finished his work in Naperville Academy. After the war he 
came to central Illinois, and in 1868 made his first purchase of land near 
where the present town of Gifford stands, but before a railroad was built 
through that section. 

Mr. Craigmile laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage 
to Miss Agnes Calder. She was born in Canada, a daughter of William and 
Mary Ann (Hempey) Calder. Her father was born in Scotland and her 
mother in Bristol, England. William Calder was a brave soldier of the 
British Empire and was in the armies of her majesty fourteen years. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Craigmile started life on a farm of 
254 acres at Gifford. There the young Scotch couple demonstrated the 
possession of those sterling characteristics so familiar to the people of the 



556 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

land of the hills and heather. Though they started on the bare prairie, 
they gradually surrounded themselves with comforts and improvements, 
and have long since accumulated a fine estate. For his first land in Cham- 
paign County Mr. Craigmile paid only $11 an acre, and any of his pos- 
sessions now are worth many times that sum. He has been both a farmer 
and stock raiser. 

The children born into their happy home are named A. H., Erva J., 
Mary, Archibald, Eunice and Charles. The training and education of these 
children have been always close to the hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Craigmile. 
The first school they attended was near Gifford, and the parents encour- 
aged the boys and girls to make the best of their time and opportunities, 
and subsequently gave them the advantages of the great University of 
Illinois at Urbana. Mary and Charles both graduated from that insti- 
tution with honors, and Mary became a popular teacher in Champaign 
County in the district schools at Penfield and the Eantoul High School. 
Charles Craigmile specialized in civil engineering and is now employed by 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, with headquarters at Lincoln, 
Nebraska. He is a progressive American boy and makes friends wherever 
he goes. A. H. Craigmile was a successful teacher for ten years and for 
two years was principal of the Gifford schools. He also taught in Alberta, 
Canada. The children fitted themselves for useful occupations in which 
they might exercise the best talents of their characters. Many pupils 
have received instruction from the Craigmile children, and as teachers their 
record is enviable and worthy. The oldest child, A. H. Craigmile married 
Miss Clara Williams of Rantoul, and they now reside at Dauphin in Mani- 
toba, Canada. Their two children are named Mary W. and Robert Alex- 
ander. Erva J. Craigmile is the wife of W. S. Smith, and they live at 
Armstrong, Illinois. Their two children are named Emile Jean and 
Charles Craigmile. Eunice Craigmile married J. F. Clark, a Rantoul 
attorney, and is the mother of two daughters, Elizabeth and Janis. 

For the past ten years Mr. and Mrs. Craigmile have had their home in 
Rantoul. Both attend the Methodist Episcopal Church, and fraternally 
Mr. Craigmile has affiliations with the Grand Army of the Republic, and 
Mrs. Craigmile belongs to the Woman's Relief Corps. Their comfortable 
home is on Belle Avenue, and here they dwell in peace and may look with 
pardonable pride over the backward stretch of years from the time they 
married and started to make a home until now their children are grown 
and they have grandchildren. 

GENERAL SAMUEL T. BUSET. A soldier, banker, a patriot and public- 
spirited citizen, the late General Samuel T. Busey was without question 
one of the ablest factors in the history of Champaign County and was 
widely known and his leadership gratefully acknowledged throughout 
Illinois. 

Xecessarily the name Busey is one that frequently recurs throughout 
the pages of Champaign County history. The family was founded here by 
Matthew W. Busey, father of General Busey. Matthew W. Busey was born 
in Shelby County, Kentucky, May 15, 1798, a son of Samuel and Catherine 
(Siegler) Busey. When he was a small boy they removed to Washington 
County, Indiana, where he learned the brick mason's trade. From 1823 
until 1847 he followed the business of contractor and builder. 

It was in 1832, eighty-five years ago, that Matthew W. Busey first 
visited -the region of eastern Illinois, including Champaign County. This 
was then a part of Vermilion County. During this visit he entered land 
from the Government on the site of what is now a part of the city of 
Urbana. In 1836 Matthew Busey brought h s family to Champaign County 
and lived there from that time until his death on December 13, 1852. He 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 557 

married in Washington County, Indiana, Miss Elizabeth Bush, who was 
born in Shelby County, Kentucky, March 6, 1801, and died in Champaign 
County in 1880. 

General Samuel T. Busey, the sixth child of his parents, was born at 
Greencastle, Indiana, in 1835. He was only an infant when the family 
removed to Champaign County and he grew up in almost a frontier com- 
munity and had the advantages of such schools as were maintained here 
seventy or eighty years ago. His early experiences were those of his 
father's farm, but in 1856, when a little past twenty years of age, he 
entered merchandising. That was his active work until 1862, when he 
sold his business and prepared to assume the responsibilities of a patriot 
and defender of the flag. 

Obtaining a commission from the war governor, Richard Yates, he 
recruited a company and with it went into camp at Kankakee August 6, 
1862. When the company organized he was elected captain. On the 
organization of the regiment he was elected colonel. His company was 
Company B, Seventy-sixth Illinois Infantry. On the 22d of August, 1862, 
the regiment started south for Columbus, Kentucky, which was then the 
base of supplies for Grant's army operating about Corinth. He afterwards 
joined the field forces at Bolivar, Tennessee, and subsequently was with 
Grant at Coffeeville, Mississippi. In 1863 Colonel Busey led his regiment 
to join Grant's army in the rear of Vicksburg. His regiment was closer to 
a rebel fort than any other regiment on the entire fourteen miles, they 
occupying the extreme left of the command. They arrived at Chickasaw 
Bayou the night Grant drove the Confederates into the Vicksburg strong- 
hold. After that city surrendered Colonel Busey was the first Union 
officer to enter. His able services again and again attracted the attention 
of his superiors, but he refused promotion to the rank of brigadier-general 
in order that he might not be separated from his comrades in the old regi- 
ment. Subsequently he was offered command of the post at Natchez, Mis- 
sissippi, but he declined this for the same reason. On January 1, 1865, 
leaving Memphis with his regiment, he was the first to report to General 
Canby at New Orleans, went from there to Pensacola, Florida, later to 
Pollard, Alabama, and then moved down to Fort Blakeley, the last strong- 
hold in the rear of Mobile. This fort was carried by assault on the 9th of 
April, after a ten days' siege. Colonel Busey's regiment was the first to 
enter the works and it suffered greater loss than all the rest of the com- 
mand. Colonel Busey was the second man to surmount the works, and his 
companion was killed and he himself wounded. He recuperated from his 
wound in the hospital at New Orleans, and it was June before he was 
able to rejoin his command. He went to Texas and was mustered out for 
discharge at Galveston and was given his honorable discharge at Chicago, 
August 6, 1865. Subsequently, on the recommendation of Generals 
Andrews, Steel and Grant, for his gallantry in leading his regiment in the 
assault on Fort Blakely, he was commissioned brevet brigadier-general, and 
by active and meritorious service perhaps not one of Illinois' brigadier- 
generals more completely deserved this honor. 

The war over, General Busey resumed civil life in the role of a farmer 
in Champaign County. In 1867, in company with his brother, Hon. 
Simeon H. Busey, he organized what is today known as Busey's State Bank 
at Urbana. General Busey afterwards bought his brother's interest and 
associated with him his nephew, Matthew W. Busey, in the management 
and direction of the bank's affairs. 

General Busey finally retired from active business affairs and lived 
quietly at his home in Urbana until his death on August 12, 1909. Polit- 
ically he was a Democrat, one of the best qualified leaders of his party in 

23 



558 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

this section of the State, and had the distinction of defeating Hon. Joseph 
G. Cannon for Congress. 

Mrs. Mary E. Busey, widow of the late General Busey, has long been 
identified with the life and affairs of her home county, and through her 
repeated elections to the post of trustee of the University of Illinois is one 
of the most widely known women of the State. Her maiden name was 
Mary Elizabeth Bowen. She was born in Delphi, Indiana, June 21, 1854, 
a daughter of Abner and Catherine J. (Trawin) Bowen. Her father was 
born in Dayton, Ohio, and her mother in Calcutta, India. Mrs. Busey's 
paternal grandparents were Enoch and Elizabeth (Wilson) Bowen, both 
natives of Pennsylvania. Her great-grandfather, David Bowen, was born 
in Pennsylvania. Her maternal grandparents were John and Mary 
(Webber) Trawin, and they and her great-grandmother, Sarah (Brett) 
Webber, were all natives of England. 

Mrs. Busey was educated in Vassar College, and on December 25, 1877, 
at her parents' home in Delphi, Indiana, she married General Busey. For 
forty years she has been a resident of Champaign County, and not only 
shared with her husband the many social distinctions paid them, but 
is active also in the responsibilities of home and the community. She is an 
active member of the Presbyterian Church and has served on the board of 
trustees for more than twenty-three years. For several successive terms 
she has also filled the post of trustee of the University of Illinois, having 
been re-elected in 1916. She is identified with the patriotic order, the 
Dames of the Loyal Legion and the Woman's Eelief Corps. 

General and Mrs. Busey had three children. Marietta was married 
April 7, 1909, to Guy A. Tawney, who is head of the Department of 
Philosophy in the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. Professor and Mrs. 
Tawney have two children, George Busey, born July 7, 1912, and Eliza- 
beth, born February 4, 1916. The daughter Bertha lives at home with her 
mother in Urbana. Charles Bowen was married June 6, 1911, to Louise 
Carter of Dallas, Texas, and they now reside at Urbana. They have one 
child, Charles Bowen, Jr., born November 15, 1915. 

MATTHEW WALES BUSEY. Of the native sons of Champaign County 
who have been factors in the development of the county's resources, one of 
the most prominently known is Matthew W T ales Busey, president of Busey's 
State Bank at Urbana. As one of the leading bankers of his section he has 
contributed to the advancement of the agricultural interests of Champaign 
County, and in his capacity of private citizen has ever been found ready 
to lend encouragement and support to the movements which have made for 
progress in his fertile and enterprising part of the State. 

Matthew Wales Busey was born at Urbana, Champaign County, Illinois. 
December 7, 1854, being a son of Simeon Harrison and Artimesia (Jones) 
Busey. His paternal grandfather was Matthew W. Busey, who was born 
in Shelby County, Kentucky, May 15, 1798, a son of Samuel and Catherine 
(Siegler) Busey\ The family removed to Washington County, Indiana, 
when Matthew W. Busey, the elder, was still a youth, and there he learned 
the trade of brick mason, later becoming a contractor and builder, a busi- 
ness which he followed with success from 1823 to 1847. In 1832 he 
visited the region of Champaign County, which was then a part of Ver- 
milion County, and entered land from the United States Government on 
the site of what is now a part of the city of Urbana. In 1836 he removed 
with his family to Champaign County, and continued to make this section 
his home during the remainder of his life, his death occurring here Decem- 
ber 13, 1852. Mr. Busey had married Miss Elizabeth Bush while residing 
in Washington County, Indiana, in 1821. She was born in Shelby County, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 559 

Kentucky, March 6, 1801, and died in 1880. She was the mother of eight 
children, Simeon H., John Simpson, Samuel Thompson, Mathew D., 
Mary C. Kirkpatrick, Sarah A. Sim, Elizabeth F. McClain and Louisa J. 
Romine, all of whom survived their parents. 

Simeon Harrison Busey was born October 24, 1824, at Greencastle, 
Indiana, and was twelve years of age when brought to Champaign County, 
Illinois, where, as his father had at that time taken up farming and stock- 
raising, the youth was reared in an agricultural atmosphere. He also had 
influences that were an incentive to the highest degree of effort to realize 
his individual capacity. His father was an active member of the Baptist 
Church and had served as a colonel in both the Illinois and Indiana State 
Militia, was for two terms a member of the State Legislature and had also 
acted as judge of the County Court. Simeon H. Busey, as he grew older, 
adopted farming and stock-raising, and eventually acquired extensive hold- 
ings in the rich farm lands of this section and did his work on a large 
scale. The competence he thus acquired led him into the financial and 
industrial development of a new country and he assisted in the organization 
of the First National Bank of Champaign. Soon afterward, however, he 
disposed of his interest in that institution and in 1868, with his brother, 
Colonel Samuel T. Busey, organized Busey's Bank at Urbana, with which 
he was connected until a short time prior to his death, which occurred at 
Urbana, June 3, 1901. He was a born financier, and upon entering the 
banking business soon became known as such, and his judgment was much 
sought and relied upon in business matters. 

On September 22, 1848, at Greencastle, Indiana, Simeon H. Busey 
married Miss Artimesia Jones, and brought his young bride to the Illinois 
home which he had prepared for her and where the young people soon 
became important factors in the social and intellectual life of the com- 
munity. Artimesia Jones was born at Greencastle, Indiana, October 26, 
1826, was reared in that State, and after a residence at Urbana of nearly 
sixty-six years she passed away July 18, 1914. Her father, John Wesley 
Jones, was born in England, November 16, 1794, and married Alice Allen, 
who was born October 20, 1798. They were married in Indiana. 

Nine children were born to Simeon H. Busey and wife : John Wheeler 
Busey ; Matthew W. ; George W. Busey, who is president of the First State 
Bank of Fisher, Illinois; James B. Busey, a farmer and a banker at 
Mahomet; Alice J. Freeman, wife of Gus T. Freeman of Urbana; Ann 
Augusta Morgan, a resident of Urbana, Illinois; Elizabeth Frances Riley, 
wife of Ozias Riley of Champaign; Lucy Ann, who died in infancy; and 
William H. Busey, who died aged forty years. 

Simeon H. Busey was a member of the First Baptist Church of Urbana, 
was a charter member of the local Masonic Lodge, and in politics a Demo- 
crat. He served as a member of the State Legislature and besides his local 
banking connections was one of the organizers and a director of the 
Bankers National Bank of Chicago up to the time of his death. He was 
one of the active workers in securing the location of the University of 
Illinois at Urbana, as well as in securing the location of the railroad run- 
ning from Peoria to Indianapolis, now part of the Big Four System. 

Matthew W. Busey was well educated for his work in life, both theoret- 
ically and practically. He attended the Urbana schools and in 1875, at 
the age of twenty-one, became bookkeeper in the bank of Busey Brothers. 
In November, 1879, he bought his father's interests, and in 1888 became 
president of Busey's Bank, a position he has held until the present date, 
almost thirty years. He is also president of the Ogden Bank of Ogden, 
Illinois, the Exchange Bank of St. Joseph, Illinois, and the Commercial 
Bank of Champaign. Mr. Busey has in many ways used his position and 



560 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

influence as a banker to promote agricultural prosperity and the solution 
of the many problems connected with the betterment of country life in 
America. He has acquired extensive interests in Champaign County farms 
and also owns a large amount of land in Mississippi and other sections of 
this State. In 1905 Mr. Busey was appointed treasurer of the University 
of Illinois. He has also been a member of the executive committee of the 
Illinois Bankers' Association. 

On November 15, 1877, at Tolono, Illinois, he married Miss Katherine 
W. Richards. She was born at Warm Springs, Virginia, October 20, 1857, 
and was educated at the State Normal University at Normal, Illinois. 
Mr. and Mrs. Busey have two children. Paul Graham Busey, the son, 
was born at Urbana October 5, 1880, was educated in the public schools, 
the University of Illinois, the Art Institute at Chicago, and is now vice- 
president of Busey's State Bank, with his home at Urbana. He married 
Miss Clara Blanche Black, of Urbana, and they have one child, Patricia 
Blanche. Virginia Busey, the daughter was born at Urbana, November 4, 
1883, and was also liberally educated, attending the Urbana public schools, 
the University of Illinois, the National Park Seminary at Washington, 
D. C., and Smith College. She is now the wife of Dr. James F. Churchill, 
of Chicago, and they reside at San Diego, California. They have one son, 
Robert Busey. 

Mr. Matthew W. Busey is a Democrat in his political affiliations, but 
his business interests have been so extensive that he has not found time to 
enter actively into politics. He is well known in fraternal circles, being a 
thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Knight Templar body and 
Medinah Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S. of Chicago, Illinois. He is also a 
member of Urbana Lodge, B. P. 0. E. When a young man he served his 
time in- the National Guard. 

BERT RAYBURN. Champaign County with its high-priced lands is dis- 
tinctively the field for the highly efficient farm manager. That is the work 
and position of Mr. Bert Rayburn. By long experience he has proved his 
capability in handling the soil and resources of Champaign County in a 
manner productive both to himself and the owners of the land. Mr. Ray- 
burn has acquired a considerable stake as a land holder himself, but his 
chief experience has been as a renter and farm manager. 

A native of Champaign County, he was born in Mahomet Township, 
September 24, 1872, a son of Lee and Dora (Christian) Rayburn, the 
former a native of Ohio and the latter of Kentucky. The Rayburns were 
pioneers in Champaign County, where Grandfather John Rayburn located 
about 1856. He was a farmer, and farming has been the regular occupa- 
tion of the family through three generations. Mr. Lee Rayburn spent many 
years in that vocation and is now living retired at Champaign. He was at 
one time road commissioner of Scott Township. He and his wife had thir- 
teen children : Estella, living at Champaign, widow of William Herriott ; 
Bert ; Leonard, a farmer in Mahomet Township ; Joseph, Pearl and Nellie, 
all deceased; Myrtle, at home; Ethel, wife of Charles Keller of Urbana; 
Mabel, wife of Thomas Barker, a farmer in Scott Township ; Cecil, a Scott 
Township farmer; J. W. of Scott Township; Lee and Elsie, still at 
home. 

Mr. Bert Rayburn had a thorough training as a farmer during the first 
twenty-one years of his life, which he spent at home. In the meantime he 
acquired a substantial education in the local schools. At the age of twenty- 
one he continued working a year for his father and then rented ninety acres 
in Scott Township, which he managed two years. He then went to a 
larger farm, consisting of 265 acres, and had that place under his control 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 561 

for five years. His next experience was in the implement business at Bond- 
ville for a year, and removing to Mattoon, Illinois, he farmed a 240-acre 
place two years and for one year was in Iroquois County, farming 200 acres. 

In 1909 Mr. Eayburn took the active management of the large Burnham 
estate in section 2 of Champaign Township. This has long been one of 
the noted farms of Champaign County, and for eight years Mr. Eayburn 
has rotated the crops on this 270 acres and has handled it both as a gen- 
eral farming and stock-raising proposition. Altogether he has 367 acres 
under his direction, including ninety-seven acres of his own located in 
Hensley Township. Mr. Eayburn pays successful attention to all the 
varied departments of farming, and if there is any one specialty it is his 
dairy of fine thoroughbred Holstein cows. Politically he is a Republican 
and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

On February 20, 1895, Mr. Eayburn married Eva E. Shaffer, who was 
born at Ludlow, Illinois. They are the parents of six children : Fern, who 
was born March 23, 1896, and died in November, 1899; Glenn and Gladys, 
twins, born August 10, 1897; Harold, born in 1899 and died in 1901; 
Vernon, born in November, 1903; and Feryl, born May 3, 1910. 

WILLIAM D. BURTON is a Champaign County pioneer, was a farmer 
during his more active years, and since moving to Champaign has done 
much for the betterment and improvement of that city. 

Mr. Burton was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, January 28, 1830, a son 
of Elijah and Deliah (Dimmitt) Burton, the former a native of Pennsyl- 
vania and the latter of Virginia. His father was a farmer and both he 
and his wife died in Knox County, Illinois. There were nine children : 
Malinda J., who died in California ; Harvey, deceased ; William D. ; Henry, 
of Grant's Pass, Oregon; Sarah, John and George, all deceased; Oliver, 
who lives in Iowa ; and Hiram, of Colorado. 

William D. Burton was reared in Ohio, and first passed through Cham- 
paign County when on his way to Iowa. The following year, 1858, he 
returned to Knox County and later to eastern Illinois and located on a 
farm four miles north of Mahomet in Champaign County. He still owns 
a hundred acres of the land which he developed and cultivated in that 
section. In 1892 he came to Champaign, was real estate agent for some 
years, and invested in local property, including his own home and other 
parcels of real estate. Mr. Burton was the man who set out all the trees 
in the East Side Park addition. 

On March 20, 1856, he married Mary Abbott Wright, who was born in 
Licking County, Ohio, October 16, 1829, and died at her home in Cham- 
paign February 15, 1917. Mr. Burton has two children: Eliza is the wife 
of Dr. J. I. Groves, of Champaign; Dora is the wife of F. J. Foote, 
of Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Burton is a Republican, has been affiliated with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since he was twenty-one years of 
age, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

THOMAS J. COLVIN. One of the substantial commercial enterprises of 
Urbana, with forty years of successful and reliable business history back of 
it, is the meat market conducted by Thomas J. Colvin. When Mr. Colvin 
entered upon his career in this venture, he had little to back him save 
the experience he had gained as his father's assistant, his ambition, 
determination and industry, but out of these he has developed a paying 
and prosperous business, which has become so well known at Urbana as 
to be accounted a necessary commercial asset. The proprietor, with a 
supreme faith in the future of the city, has invested heavily in real estate 
holding here, so that he is one of the substantial property owners of the 



562 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

place. Both in his own interests and those of the city, he has always 
staunchly supported measures making for local improvement and civic 
betterment. 

Thomas J. Colvin was born February 14, 1858, in Scott County, 
Indiana, and is a son of John and Catherine (Goben) Colvin. His father, 
a native of County Down, Ireland, came to the United States in young man- 
hood and engaged in working at the cabinet-maker's trade in Scott County, 
Indiana, where he met and married Catherine Goben. She died there in 
1860, and in 1867 Mr. Colvin brought his family to Champaign County, 
Illinois, and settled on a farm in the vicinity of Tolono. He became one 
of the leading citizens of his community, won an honorable standing in 
business life, and finally became interested in public affairs and was well 
known as one of the staunch workers in the ranks of the Democratic party. 
Under both of President Cleveland's administrations he served Tolono 
as postmaster, and eventually was chosen mayor, in which office he was 
serving at the time of his tragic death. On the day of his demise a fire 
had broken out, and Mayor Colvin, hastening to the scene of the con- 
flagration, was struck and instantly killed by an Illinois Central train, the 
approach of which he had failed to note because of an umbrella which he 
was carrying. His death was considered a great loss to the community, 
in the interests of which he had labored so faithfully. There were five 
children in the family of John and Catherine Colvin, namely: Martha, 
of Los Angeles, California, the widow of Ebenezer Gordon; Mary Jane, 
who is the wife of B. B. Salberry, of San Francisco, California; John M., 
a resident of Spokane, Washington; Thomas J., of this notice; and 
Edward, who enlisted in the army when a mere youth, and of whom the 
family has completely lost track. 

Thomas J. Colvin was educated in the public schools of Tolono, and 
as a youth assisted his father in conducting a meat market at that place. 
When he had $100 saved, at the age of nineteen years, he embarked upon 
an independent venture, which, starting in a necessarily small way, rapidly 
developed into a substantial house. In 1882 he bought the business 
establishment which he now conducts, and which is accounted one of the 
leading markets of the city, it having been built up through a policy of 
honorable conduct, honest representation and straightforward methods of 
doing business. In investing his profits Mr. Colvin has been loyal to 
his home city, and now has numerous holdings in a realty way, business 
and residential. His standing in business circles is of the best, and as 
a citizen he has contributed freely of time, ability and means in furthering 
worthy projects. Mr. Colvin is a Democrat, but not a politician. 

In December, 1882, Mr. Colvin was united in marriage at Urbana to 
Miss Sadie Marks, who was born in Champaign County, and to this union 
there have been born three children : John T., who is associated with his 
father in the market business, one of the enterprising young business men 
of Urbana; Don Otto, who is now residing in Arizona; and Ernest M., 
whose place of residence is Middletown, Ohio. 

ISAAC E. HESS. Successful merchandising is a business that is neces- 
sary in a community that desires to expand and progress, but all merchan- 
dising is not, by any means, successful. When poor stocks are offered to the 
public and indifferent salesmen reluctantly show the wares, the business is 
not very likely to interest any one very long, but, on the other hand, the 
first class store, filled with dependable, up-to-date goods which are brought 
to the attention of customers by courteous employes and sold at honest 
prices, is a very helpful factor in building up the name and promoting the 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 563 

prosperity of a town, village or a city. In order, however, to be a success- 
ful merchant, a man must have many of the qualities that make for success 
along any line, and foresight, shrewdness, knowledge of details, good judg- 
ment and integrity are some of these. Occasionally the real mercantile 
spirit descends in a family from father to son and a case in point may be 
mentioned in referring to Philo, that bustling little city in Champaign 
County, where the name of Hess has been thoroughly identified with the 
mercantile business for the past forty-two years. 

Isaac E. Hess, who is the leading general merchant at Philo, Illinois, 
was born at Parkville, in Sadorus Township, Champaign County, Illinois, 
September 3, 1871. His parents were George W. and Brzilla Jane (Bed- 
son) Hess, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter in Ken- 
tucky. In his earlier years George W. Hess was a farmer. Pie came to 
Champaign County and located in Sadorus Township in 1858 and engaged 
there in agricultural pursuits until 1875, when he moved to Philo and estab- 
lished himself in the general mercantile business there, but his career as 
a merchant was short, as his death took place August 25, 1876. His 
widow survived him many years, the date of her death being May 4, 1915. 
They were the parents of the following children : Ella W., who is the wife 
of Martin Ellars, Ironton, Ohio; William S. Hess, merchant at Homer, 
Illinois; Samuel, who is general passenger agent for the Wabash Eailroad 
at Decatur; Fred C., who conducts a drug store at Villa Grove; George D., 
a resident of Champaign; and Isaac E. 

Isaac E. Hess attended the public schools and was graduated from the 
Champaign High School in the class of 1887. In the meanwhile his older 
brothers had carried on the mercantile business established by the father 
at Philo, and he became a clerk in the store and soon began to cherish the 
.imbition to make the business his own, which ambition he was able to 
gratify in 1898 when he bought the entire interests of his two brothers 
and then took charge. Mr. Hess has a fine modern store, with a carefully 
assorted stock and does a substantial business, his patronage not being con- 
fined to the town but coming from a large outlying territory. In thus 
being able to keep the people's money in circulation at home, Mr. Hess 
has assisted the community, for it is distributed in other lines of trade 
together with his own and the benefit has been mutual and general. 

As a successful merchant Mr. Hess fills a place of usefulness and no. 
small distinction in Champaign County, but it is for other reasons that 
he is widely known over the state and has a growing list of admirers in 
many sections of the country. If Champaign County should ever create 
a Hall of Fame there would certainly be a niche somewhere for Isaac E. 
Hess. He would deserve that place, not because he has been a successful 
business man, but because of his quiet and sustained interest and study 
for many years of Illinois bird life. Curiously enough, Mr. Hess' services 
as an ornithologist is known and appreciated by more people outside Cham- 
paign County than within it, though this is due merely to the fact that a 
very restricted number of people in any one given locality are real nature 
lovers and students. In recent years at different times articles on Mr. 
Hess' work have appeared in many newspapers, including the St. Louis Post- 
Dispatch, the Chicago Record-Herald, and various down-state journals. It 
would not be possible in this article to quote even a few of the many appre- 
ciations that have been written concerning his practical work as an ornith- 
ologist or his character as a bird poet and philosopher. In April, 1913, the 
Decatur Herald said editorially: "Xo naturalist that we know anything 
about makes his subjects of more gripping interest to the reader or clothes 
it in a finer philosophy than Isaac Hess of Philo. The Herald considers 
itself fortunate in being able to present to its readers Mr. Hess' series of 
bird articles. Mr. Hess could not be drily and formally scientific if he 



564 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

tried. He would make an ornithological catalogue fascinating and put 
humor into an appendix of a work on pterodactyls. It is the happy mis- 
sion of Mr. Hess to open the mental eyes of his fellow men to the things 
they have seen, but do not notice; a talk with him and a walk through 
timber, along a river bottom, or a ride along a country road has a new 
significance." 

Some months before this editorial appeared the Decatur Herald pub- 
lished a full page article, illustrated, under the title, "Philo's Bird Lover, 
Philosopher, a remarkable combination of business man and interpreter 
of nature, student and champion of his feathered friends, to whom it is 
good to listen." It is only doing justice where justice is due to quote some 
of the paragraphs from this very interesting special correspondent. 

"Perhaps it was because of Philo's trees affording so many opportunities 
for songsters' nests that Isaac Hess became an ornithologist. Every country 
boy, he believes, is more or less an unconscious naturalist up to a certain 
age. He is interested in the wild life about him, learns to know the names 
of the birds, something of their haunts and habits, and then distractions 
come in; further development is arrested. Mr. Hess started in as other 
boys have done, only in his case there was no break in his study of birds 
through the crowding in of other interests. Though a busy man, he has 
continued to be a student in his favorite subject and has become a we)l 
recognized authority on the birds of central Illinois, a writer of note on 
ornithological subjects, and the author of papers and pamphlets, one of 
which is used as the basis of a course in the University of Illinois. 

"Sound him on almost any phase of his favorite subject, and Mr. Hess 
invariably will respond : 'I have a pamphlet on that,' or 'I am now pre- 
paring a paper on that very thing.' One is brought to a realization of his 
capacity for hard work by records of the Illinois Academy of Science, 
articles in the Bird Magazine and other popular and scientific journals to 
which he contributes, and in the almost countless letters and articles in 
newspapers by which he has sought to disseminate the information that he 
has acquired and make it of use to those about him. 

"Mr. Hess' single greatest achievement was the gathering of data on 
104 different species of birds found in a ten-mile radius from his home, 
which data was published in 1910 and remains the most complete and 
authoritative work of its kind in central Illinois. Not only did Mr. Hess 
make his way through swamps, over hedges and along the rough course of 
Salt Fork Creek and the Embarrass Eiver, often creeping on hands and 
knees and lying for hours at a time scarcely daring to breathe lest the 
knowledge of his presence should disturb some little feathered home 
builder, but he collected the eggs of ninety-four different species, which 
collection occupying cases in the rear of his store, is one which bird lovers 
come far to see. 

"Take into consideration the fact that for years Mr. Hess kept an earliest 
nesting record of the birds that visited this radius, and one has an idea of 
the size of the task. Mr. Hess also has a most complete collection of 
mounted birds, although most of his hunting is done with glass and camera 
rather than with gun, and he much prefers birds living to birds dead. 

"Xo matter how well a genius may write he seldom writes as well as 
he talks. You would be interested in Mr. Hess' work on Breeding Birds 
or his paper on the Passing of Our Game Birds, but you will be a good 
deal more interested to sit down with him for an hour and hear him dis- 
cuss birds, for it is then that you get Mr. Hess' philosophy as well as 
absorbingly interesting information which he has picked up first hand. You 
may not be a bird lover, but the probabilities are that after one of these 
talks with Mr. Hess your eyes will be opened to things that you never 
have seen before and your thought directed into new channels. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 565 

"For one thing Mr. Hess is teaching the farmers in Champaign County 
what birds are their friends and are deserving of their protection for the 
good they do in devouring weed seeds and insects. He has taught them, 
for instance, that the Red-Tailed Hawk that voloplanes so gracefully on 
strong pinions high in air has no designs on the henhouse, but is looking 
for the field mice which his wonderful eye discloses to him in the grass 100 
yards below him. The true name of this hawk, Mr. Hess says, should be 
the Farmers' Friend, and he is a wholly different bird from the smaller 
low-flying thief that darts over the fence, seizes a chicken, and is off with it 
before a gun can be sighted. 

"Many of his acquaintances fail to understand the work he is doing 
and cannot understand his willingness to put in days of ' hard labor to 
secure a new specimen or discover some new traits in his friends, the birds. 
But in this respect perhaps he does not suffer so much from lack of appre- 
ciation as other geniuses of different bent, for there is in every human a 
love of nature, but even if they did not care to follow Mr. Hess into 
realms of ornithological bliss they would still listen to him so entertain- 
ingly does he talk on birds or any other topic. 

"Broad, fair-minded, and seeking always to find- the best, rather than 
the other in his fellow men, Mr. Hess has inoculated most of his followers 
to some extent with his spirit and no matter how delicate the subject, nor 
how widely different may be the views on any question at his store clearing 
house of public opinion, there is always that spirit of good fellowship and 
respect for feelings in the discussion. 

"One might gather the impression from this sketch that the subject of 
it may be a genius but not a business man. Perhaps the reader has visions 
of a topsy-turvy stock in an untidy, neglected store, but the opposite is true. 
Nowhere will be found a more tidy and up-to-date dry goods store and 
some of the commercial journals to which Mr. Hess has contributed his 
ideas on stockkeeping and bookkeeping have paid him the highest compli- 
ments, venturing the opinion that writer must have an ideal store, which 
it is. And this is also true of his home, for he is married to a woman who 
shares his love of nature. They have a pretty home and a very pretty 
baby girl. Living so many years so close to nature has made Mr. Hess an 
optimist. He accepts the Creator's plan and believes with the poet that 
'All's right with the world.' To not everyone is given that ability or the 
desire to emphasize the good and minimize the bad." 

Mr. Hess is a member of the scientific associations, the American Ornith- 
ologists' Union, Wilson's Club, and Illinois Academy of Science. For three 
years he was a special writer for the Decatur Herald, preparing a series 
of 157 articles on bird life, and this series is now running in the Quincy 
Whig. He was one of three authors compiling work on American birds 
to be published in the German language under auspices of the royal family 
of Germany when war interfered with all plans. At the present time Mr. 
Hess is engaged on a book, "Illinois Birds," the publication of which will 
be eagerly anticipated by his many friends and admirers all over the state. 
Mr. Hess has lectured nearly everywhere in Illinois before university clubs, 
farmers' institutes, Boy Scout clubs, high schools, women's clubs, Milliken 
University at Decatur, the University of Illinois and the Patterson Springs 
Chautauqua. These lectures and addresses are illustrated with slides from 
photos of his own taking of Illinois birds "in situ." Some time ago Mr. 
TTess was offered the position of instructor of the Nature Class Summer 
School in the University of Illinois. 

Not all of Mr. Hess' studies of bird life have been through the medium 
of camera and field notes. He has expressed himself many times in poetry, 
and it will not be out of place to include his verses on "The Upland 
Plover": 



566 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

But for notes of Whippoorwills 
Not a sound of spring so thrills 
Ear and heart and sets me list'ning, 
Like the weird and plaintive whistling, 
Of the dainty Upland Plover 
Wild, elusive meadow-lover; 

When o'er May-day breeze is floating, 
Soothing, whistled Plover-noting, 
I am seized of great desire 
Born of hidden motive, higher 
Than the sordid dollar chasing; 
Sluggish blood, aroused, is racing 
Through my veins; forsaking duties 
I'm away with Nature's beauties; 

Slyly slipping through the sedges 
Creeping, peeping, behind hedges 
To the fields where I discover 
Haunts of winsome Upland Plover; 
In the fields of scented clover 
Bobolinks are bubbling over; 
Meadow-larks are tuning madly; 
Dickcissels are ofFring gladly 
Sweetest anthems of thanksgiving; 
All lute of the joys of living. 

But to me the sweetest ear-sounds 
Satisfying full-of-cheer sounds, 
Sirens from the mated lover 
Of the patient setting Plover; 
Rising like a flash from cover 
Poised on flutt'ring wings to hover 
In mid-air above his treasure 
He, to show the world his pleasure, 
Sounds his message (song epistle) - 
Voloplanes down with his whistle. 

Mr. Hess married, May 23, 1894, Miss Florence Adams, who was born 
in McLean County, Illinois. Their daughter, Edith Constance, was born 
March 8, 1912. For many years Mr. Hess has been a member of the 
Order of Odd Fellows and attends the lodge at Philo. Although a sound 
Republican in his political sentiments, he is by no means a politician, nor 
is he illiberal in his attitude on general public questions. Among other 
business interests he was at its inauguration and conventions secretary of 
the Florida Fruit Lands Company, which divided 180,000 acres of ever- 
glades. 

THOMAS E. SMITH. The name Thomas E. Smith is at once associated 
with the wealthy and successful business men of Champaign. Success did 
not come to him like manna from the skies, but was earned by the hardest 
kind of effort. He gained some of his early experience as a pioneer on 
the Northwestern prairies of the Dakotas and Montana. For many years 
Mr. Smith has been in the meat business at Champaign and is now pro- 
prietor of two large cold storage plants and handles his business on a 
wholesale scale. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 567 

He was born near Potomac, Vermilion County, Illinois, January 13, 
1862. His parents were William H. and Emily (Copeland) Smith, the 
former a native of England and the latter of Vermilion County, Illinois. 
William H. Smith was brought to America when an infant, his parents 
locating on a farm in Vermilion County, where he grew to manhood and 
thereafter until his death was a successful dealer, buyer and shipper of 
live stock. His widow is now living in Paxton, Ford County, Illinois, 
having married as her second husband Lynn Corbley. William H. Smith 
and wife had eight children : Charles S., of Kansas City, Missouri ; Alice, 
wife of William Palmer, of Los Angeles, California; Thomas E.; Anna, 
deceased ; Clara, widow of Lincoln Armstrong, living at Terre Haute, 
Indiana; William S., who occupies the old home place in Vermilion 
County; Lillian, deceased; and John E., in the meat business at Cham- 
paign. 

Such advantages as the district schools were able to afford Thomas E. 
Smith availed himself of when a boy, but he was only fifteen when he began 
the battle of life for himself. His first experience was on the farm, and 
on account of failing health he soon went out to Minnesota. He spent 
two years there and then going to South Dakota took up a claim. It 
would be a long story to recount all his experiences while in the North- 
west. He- broke the virgin prairie lands with ox teams, and hauled his 
supplies on a stone boat drawn by oxen from Huron, South Dakota, 
eighteen miles from his settlement. It required a courageous spirit and 
an unlimited determination to survive the life of that period in the far 
Northwest. Mr. Smith finally sold his claim in South Dakota and for a 
time was a cattle rancher in Montana. 

On May 1, 1884, having returned to Illinois, Mr. Smith engaged in 
the retail meat business at Champaign. That business has grown apace. 
He proved an adept not only in the service which a retail trade demands 
but in all other departments of the business, both buying and selling, and 
his interests have consequently assumed a large scale. In 1916 he built 
a cold storage plant four stories high and 80x195 feet in ground dimen- 
sions, absolutely fire proof, of brick and cement construction. This plant 
is adapted to the manufacture of ice and the handling of all kinds of meats 
and produce for cold storage. Mr. Smith also has another cold storage 
plant in Urbana, though not so large as the Champaign plant. 

While building up his business he has not neglected the general welfare 
of the community. He served two terms in the city council, and for nine 
years was a member of the school board and during that time was chairman 
of the Building and Grounds Committee. Mr. Smith is a Republican, is 
affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Wood- 
men of the World, and though not a member gives his active support to 
the Christian Church. 

On March 17, 1890, Mr. Smith married Amanda Gibson, a native of 
Jasper County, Illinois. They are the parents of five children: Gladys 
May, a teacher in the public schools at Champaign; Florence E., who died 
in August, 1915; Cleone, Harold T. and Alice, all at home. 

ARTHUR ROBINSON STEWART'S chief work in Champaign County has 
been as an unusually competent and capable farmer. It is one of the 
larger and better managed places in Champaign Township where he has 
put into practice the accumulated wisdom and experience of many years as 
an agriculturist and stockman. Mr. Stewart and family are well known 
socially in their country community and also in the city centers of the 
county. 

He was born in Ross County, Ohio, July 25, 1855, but in the same 



568 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

year was brought to Champaign County by his parents, Samuel G. and 
Jane (Evans) Stewart. His father was born in New York State, April 4, 
1816, and his mother in Ohio on December 28, 1820. After coming to 
Champaign County Samuel Stewart located land in Somers Township, and 
gave his time and toil to the improvement and cultivation of that farm for 
many years. His death occurred May 10, 1891. His wife had died 
August 26, 1867, and both were buried in Champaign. There were nine 
children: Esther, who died April 3, 1908; William, who became a Union 
soldier and died while still in the service at Memphis, Tennessee, October 
20, 1863, being then little past twenty-one, since he was born January 14, 
1842; Martha Ann, born October 28, 1843, died December 12, 1881; Mary 
E., born March 10, 1845, died July 15, 1893; Jane A., born September 5, 
1 846, is still living in Champaign County ; Robert E., born April 12, 1852, 
resides in Oregon; Emma D., born March 10, 1854, is the wife of George 
Lyman of Portsmouth, Arkansas ; Arthur Robinson ; and Walter N., who 
was born January 25, 1858, and lives at North Yakima, Washington. 

In addition to the early training he secured in the common schools, and 
the practical experience on his father's farm, Mr. Stewart attended the 
agricultural department of the University of Illinois for about two years. 
He remained on the old homestead in Somers Township, and subsequently 
was associated with his brother in managing the home farm of 200 acres. 
Later Mr. Stewart bought the interests of the other heirs in the farm, and 
retained its ownership and management until 1911, when he sold the farm 
to the Illinois Central Railway Company as a site for shops. Mr. Stewart 
then bought the old Beasly farm of 160 acres in section 1, Champaign 
Township. This gives him a large and productive place to manage, and he 
has handled it largely as a dairy proposition, having a herd of mixed Hoi- 
steins and Jerseys. 

He has not neglected the public welfare while attending to his private 
interests and for one year served as township assessor in Somer Township. 
He is a Republican. He and his wife are members of the Congregational 
Church and Mrs. Stewart belongs to the local chapter of the Daughters 
of the American Revolution. 

On September 4, 1900, Mr. Stewart married Margaret Ncsbaume Roper, 
who was born in Ohio, daughter of Charles and Amelia (Nesbaume) Roper, 
the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of Ohio. Mr. and 
Mrs. Stewart have four children : Lyman Roper, who was born June 18, 
1902; Charles Robert, born November 11, 1903, and died October 3, 1904; 
Donald Judson. born January 25, 1906; and Catherine Elizabeth, born 
February 23, 1909. 

ALVIN E. HUCKINS is head of the leading clay products business of 
Champaign County. A mechanical engineer by profession, Mr. Huckins 
has been identified with several large industrial corporations in the United 
States, and now gives his time and energies to a plant at Urbana which is 
capable of turning out any form or class of product from clay. It is a 
big business, and Mr. Huckins is considered one of the big business men 
of this community. 

He was born in Chicago, July 31, 1884, and as a young man made his 
way through difficulties to success. His parents, Clarence L. and Flora 
E. (Ryans) Huckins, were both natives of Canada and both are now 
deceased. His father was for many years in the wholesale tobacco business 
in Chicago. Mr. Huckins was the youngest of their five -children, the 
others being: William A., of Miami, Florida; Albert C., of Chicago; 
Webster Lee, of Chicago ; and Luella R., wife of Walter Qumfl, of Chi- 
cago. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 569 

Mr. Huckins had a grammar school education in Chicago, and sold 
papers in order to pay his way through the English High and Manual 
Training School of that city. He also did night work in an architect's 
office and subsequently had some valuable experience with Pierce, Richard- 
son & Neiler, a prominent firm of consulting engineers. For a year and 
a half Mr. Huckius was assistant superintendent of the American Spiral 
Pipe Company of Chicago. 

In 1903 he entered the College of Mechanical Engineering at Cham-, 
paign, and had two years of technical training. In 1905 he took' the 
position of superintendent of the Abendroth & Eoot Manufacturing Com- 
pany of Newburgh, New York. He was there about three and a half 
years and then removed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where for a short 
time he was connected with the Standard Asphalt and Rubber Company. 

Returning to Chicago in 1909, Mr. Huckins became associated with J. 
W. Stipes in the Sheldon Brick Company. For several years he was' 
connected with that corporation, and in 1912 he bought the Sheldon Brick 
Company's plant at Urbaua. This is one of the largest plants for the 
manufacture of clay products in this section. It has a capacity of 1 
forty thousand bricks a day or ten million a year. The company manu- 
factures bricks of every type and size and for every purpose and a large 
line of other qlay products. Mr. Huckins is vice president for Illinois- 
of the National Brick Association and is secretary of the Illinois Clay 
Manufacturers Association. He is an ex-president of the Chamber of 
Commerce of Champaign. Mr. Huckins is a Republican, a member of 
the Masonic Order, and of the Rotary Club. 

He was married November 7, 1906, to Miss Clara Gere, a native of 
Champaign. They have two daughters and a son: Helen, born March 
18, 1911; Clara Beth, born February 21, 1915, and Alvin E. Huckins, 
Jr., born June 11, 1917. Mrs. Huckins is a daughter of the late George 
W. and Mary H. Gere, her mother still living in Champaign. George W. 
Gere was a prominent attorney at Champaign, and represented a number 
of large corporations, including the Illinois Central Railway, the Big- 
Four Railway Company, the Illinois Traction System, and some years ago 
was candidate for governor of Illinois on the prohibition ticket. Mrs. 
Huckins is the only surviving child of her 1 parents, her sister Eva having 
died a number of years ago. 

MARK CAELEY was one of the founders of the city of Champaign: His 
name appears again and again in connection with the early annals of that 
city and of Champaign County, and always he appears as a man .of force,- 
of almost unlimited enterprise and of a public spirit that was in keeping 
with his many successes in private life. He knew much of the world by 
experience and had come to Champaign County soon after returning from 
an excursion to California during the great gold excitement on the Pacific 
Coast. His own life was to a large degree the expression of those forces' 
accumulated and inherited by him from a notable American ancestry. 

The Carleys were staunch and patriotic New Englanders. Mark Carley 
was born at Hancock in Hillsboro County, New Hampshire, August 24, 
1799. He was a son of Elijah and Agnes (Graham) Carley and a grand- 
son of Joseph and Sarah (Washburn) Carley. He was thus related to the 
Washburns whose names appear frequently in New England history, and 
from the same family came the Washburns who were conspicuous in the 
early days of Illinois. The Carleys were of Scotch-Irish ancestry. They 
settled in America long before the Revolution, and one of the cherished 
possessions of the descendants is a discharge paper signed by George Wash- 
ington and granting release from the Continental Army to Jonathan Carley, 



570 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

an uncle of the late Mark Carley. By kinship and social ties the Carleys 
were closely connected with many of the leading families of the New Eng- 
land states and also in the states of New York, Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois. 
Among such families were the Stevensons of Vermont,- prominent in Colo- 
nial and Eevolutionary history, the Harrimans, the Fisks, the Lawsons and 
the Kendalls. There were also the Goulds and Boutons of Chicago. 
Louise Carley Lawson, a sister of Mark Carley, acquired marked distinction 
as an artist in her generation. She was the wife of Professor L. M. 
Lawson, dean of the Medical College of Ohio and later of the Medical 
College of Lexington, Kentucky. 

When Mark Carley was eleven years of age his parents removed from 
New Hampshire to Vermont. He grew up in the hills of that State and 
his education was confined to the practical branches of learning taught in 
the public schools and to such experience as he could acquire. As a youth 
he learned the trade of carpenter and millwright. At the age of twenty, 
leaving home, he spent a brief time in the province of New Brunswick and 
then set sail for New Orleans. The vessel carrying him was wrecked and 
the passengers landed at Savannah, Georgia. From there he crossed to 
Havana, Cuba, and finally arrived at New Orleans April 24, 1820. In 
Louisiana Mark Carley had an extensive experience building mills and 
cotton gins. While there he learned to speak fluently the language of the 
French Creoles. 

In 1830, during one of his visits to the North, he married Abigail 
Wetherbee Stevens. In 1837 Mark Carley established his home in Cler- 
mont County, along the Ohio River, in southern Ohio. There he acquired 
large interests as a land holder, farmed them, and also engaged in boating 
on the Ohio River. 

In 1850 Mark Carley left his property interests in southern Ohio and 
crossed the plains to the gold fields of California. Here his qualities of 
leadership made him a marked man among the fearless and democratic 
element of that State. He was chosen judge of the Minors' Court and was 
prominent in regulating public affairs in the district where his own opera- 
tions were. 

In 1853 Mark Carley came to Champaign County and located at 
Urbana. He erected the first dwelling house in the city of Champaign, 
and also constructed the first grain warehouse there. He introduced the 
first steam engine for the operation of his elevator. A number of other 
business enterprises and buildings were the direct result of his enterprise 
and capital, and several buildings are still standing in Champaign as a 
monument to this pioneer. Some years later Mark Carley built the fine 
old homestead at 134 West Church Street, which is now occupied by his 
granddaughter, Martha Kincaid Weston. 

Mark Carley was an ardent Whig and admirer of Henry Clay. Among 
the heirlooms left by him is an ivory snuff-box which was presented to him 
by the great Kentucky statesman. He naturally gravitated into the Repub- 
lican party when that was formed, and the most distinguished visitor who 
ever graced the old homestead at 134 West Church Street was Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Mark Carley lived vigorously throughout a long lifetime. He was 
nearly eighty-nine years of age when he passed away at his home in Cham- 
paign, February 3, 1888. His wife died November 12, 1871. They were 
the parents of three children: Mrs. Mary A. Carley Kincaid; Mrs. Isotta 
Carley Mahan of Kenwood, Chicago, but now a resident of Los Angeles; 
and Graham Carley, who was an important capitalist and man of affairs 
and died in Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, in 1893. 

Mary A. Carley, oldest child of the late Mark Carley, was born in Cler- 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY ' 571 

mont County, Ohio, and was married in Ohio in August, 1851, to the late 
Dr. Samuel W. Kincaid. Dr. Kincaid was born at West Union, in Adams 
County, Ohio, July 15, 1823, a son of Judge John Kincaid. His brother, 
Hon. W. P. Kincaid, for several years represented his Ohio district in 
Congress. The Kincaid family is descended from the Lairds of Kincaid 
of Stirlingshire, Scotland. The first Kincaid in America was Captain John 
Kincaid, who located in Virginia in 1707. He was a native of the north 
of Ireland, while his wife, Margaret Lockhart, was born in Scotland. Their 
son, Captain James Kincaid, was a gallant Revolutionary soldier and 
married a niece of James Wilson, one of the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence. 

Dr. S. W. Kincaid was liberally educated in the schools of Cincinnati, 
and entering the Medical College of Ohio was graduated M. D. with the 
class of 1853. Soon afterward he removed to Ohio and began practice at 
Tolono in Champaign County. In 1855 he removed to Champaign, then 
known as West Urbana, and was a prominent figure in professional circles 
for a number of years. He finally retired from practice and returned to 
his old boyhood home in Ohio, where he died. Mrs. Kincaid died in Cham- 
paign, February 3, 1907. She was the mother of four children : Annie, 
Carley and Frank, all deceased ; and Martha K. 

Martha Kincaid is the widow of Charles Weston, who graduated from 
the University of Illinois as president of his class of 1876 and subsequently 
was elected auditor of the State of Nebraska. Mrs. Weston, as already 
mentioned, occupies the old homestead of her grandfather and has many 
of the family heirlooms connected with the Carley lineage. She is a cul- 
tured woman and has long been prominent in musical affairs in Champaign. 
She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and of the 
Colonial Dames, and is eligible to the Mayflower Society as well. Mrs. 
Weston's mother was also a member of the Colonial Dames. 

SOLOMON MERCER, whose recent death was deplored by a host of friends, 
had been identified with Champaign County from the period of early youth, 
and had borne the heat and burden of the day during his early efforts at 
establishing a home and improving a farm. His later years were years of 
comfort and the growing esteem of his friends. 

Mr. Mercer was born in Monroe County, Ohio, at Millwood, a son of 
Aaron and Mary (Cecil) Mercer. His father was a native of Virginia 
and his mother of Ohio. The father left Virginia in early youth, settling 
in Ohio, and there he married and his children were born, consisting of 
five sons and three daughters. Solomon Mercer received his first instruc- 
tion in the public schools of Monroe and Logan counties, Ohio. He was 
still a child when his parents came to Illinois, and after two years in 
Vermilion County located in Champaign County, where the children con- 
tinued their education at the Blue Grass school. Aaron Mercer was a very 
industrious man and worked hard and faithfully to provide for his family. 
By occupation he was a carpenter, built a large number of the early homes 
in Champaign County, and was very ingenious in the use of tools, being able 
to make all manner of furniture and also burial caskets. In a new country 
his services were in great demand and were much appreciated. He and his 
wife lived in Champaign County until they died. 

When Solomon Mercer was twenty-five years of age he married Miss 
Mary Wyman. She was born in Ohio but when a girl came to Illinois with 
her parents, and grew up and was educated in Vermilion County. After 
their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Mercer took a rented farm in Kerr Township, 
and were renters for four years. They possessed industry and thrift, and 
besides supplying the simple needs and comforts of the home they were able 
to accumulate something for the future. They possessed that spirit which 



572 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

has been described by the poet as "that delightful discontent which the 
hope of better things inspires within us." Thus at the end of four years 
they felt justified in buying 320 acres of land at a price of less than $40 an 
acre. They did not pay for the entire tract at once, but every year saw 
them a little further along the road to independence and in time they had 
the farm clear and improvements that enhanced its value several fold. 

Into their home came four children: William L. ; Allie, who died at 
the age of six years; Charles and Addie. Mr. and Mrs. Mercer from the 
first made ample provision to furnish these children with an education and 
with means of advancement to honorable position in the world. The chil- 
dren first attended the Sugar Grove school and afterwards finished the 
course of the Paxton High School. Addie graduated with honors from 
that school and all three children have made a creditable record. William 
is now a traveling salesman for the iron works at Galion, Ohio. His nat- 
ural good nature makes him popular in the work and he travels all over the 
United States. He married Fannie Martin, and they have one daughter, 
Dorothy. Charles Mercer married Jessie Molsbury and they live in Clark 
County, Ohio. He is the proprietor of an elevator. Their four children 
are named Chester, Opal, Marion and Harold. Addie Mercer is the wife 
of J. W. McCall of Gibson City, Illinois, where Mr. McCall is superin- 
tendent of the canning factory. 

Mr. Mercer, as was his wife, was an active member and liberal sup- 
porter of the Congregational Church at Paxton. On October 2, 1916, the 
death angel visited the home and took away the good wife and mother, 
after they had walked side by side along life's road for fifty-four years, 
sharing each other's joys and sorrows, and on the first anniversary, October 
2, 1917, Mr. Mercer died. Mrs. Mercer was a good wife, a kind and loving 
mother and a splendid neighbor. Her funeral service was conducted by 
Rev. Mr. Webster, minister of the Congregational Church at Paxton, and 
a large concourse of friends and relatives gathered to pay their last tribute 
of respect. After the death of his wife Mr. Mercer made his home with his 
sister, Martha Morain of Penfield, widow of Isaac Morain. Mr. and Mrs. 
Morain were married in Champaign County and he died here in 1861. 

Mr. Mercer had always been distinguished by public spirit and his 
follow citizens showed their confidence in his judgment by electing him as 
township supervisor. He was an ardent prohibitionist and the rapid prog- 
ress of that movement in recent years made him hope to see prohibition 
extended over the entire United States, if not the world. Mr. Mercer was 
one of the loyal friends and admirers of the late Judge Cunningham, who 
was so helpfully associated with the compilation of this work until his 
death. 

ARTHUR C. SINGBUSCH, now city electrician of Champaign, is a man 
of thorough technical training and wide experience in his profession, and 
his proficiency is due to a combination of practical work in various 
industries and to the advantages afforded by the great technical schools 
of his native city. 

Mr. Singbusch was born in Champaign October 13, 1882, a son of 
August C. and Anna (Wascher) Singbusch. His parents were both born 
in Germany, the father coming to America when about ten years of age. 
For twenty-five years August C. Singbusch was in the grocery business at 
Champaign, though with various other interests on the side, and now 
except for occasionally writing some insurance he is practically retired. 
He and .his wife had only two children, Arthur C. and Elsa. 

Arthur C. Singbusch graduated from the grade schools of Champaign 
and for two and a half years was a student in the engineering college 
department of the University of Illinois. His first business experience was 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 573 

with the firm of Root & Vandervoort, manufacturers of gas engines at 
Moline, Illinois. After two years with that company he returned to 
Champaign for the purpose of bettering the technical side of his training 
and took a short course in the steam engineering department of the Uni- 
versity. He was next employed by the manufacturing company of Curtis 
& Singbusch, in which his father was a partner. This firm conducted a 
jobbing shop for the manufacture of auto supplies and foundry castings. 
Mr. Singbusch remained with them a year and once more returned to the 
University, where for about three years he was an employe in the electrical 
engineering department. 

About that time the Singbusch family moved to Enid, Oklahoma, and 
Arthur was in the electrical business in that city for four years. Returning 
to Champaign, he spent four years with Caldwell & Company, electrical 
contractors, and in 1915 was called from this work to the office of city 
electrician, to which he was appointed by Mayor Swigart. He had every 
qualification for the office and has thoroughly justified the expectations 
entertained of him when he entered upon his duties. In politics Mr. 
Singbusch is a Republican. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge and of 
the Congregational Church. On April 27, 1910, he married Miss Hazel 
Scott, of Enid, Oklahoma. They were married at Enid, and are the 
parents of three children, Carl, Dorothy and Elsa Louise. 

JOSEPH CLINTON WAMPLER PITTMAN. The passage of sixty years or 
more has removed from Champaign County the greater number of its 
earliest pioneers, although through worthy descendants their names are pre- 
served and their memories perpetuated. It was sixty-one years ago, in 
1856, that Joseph C. W. Pittman was brought into this section of Illinois, 
being then a child of seven years. In his home community of Mahomet 
Mr. Pittman is known as a man of most substantial resources and of that 
influence that springs from strong character and worthy motives. His 
early life was one of toil and the meeting of adverse conditions presented 
by a comparatively new country and his success is due to that good fortune 
which is a result of industry and honorable activities. 

Mr. Pittman was born in Butler County, Ohio, February 24, 1849, 
the eighth in a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters, whose 
parents were George H. and Eliza (Bake) Pittman. Only three of these 
children are still living, Mary, Joseph C. and Jacob D. Mary, who was 
well educated and taught school in Mahomet Township three years, is now 
living at Rockwell City, Iowa, widow of J. L. Stearns. Jacob D., a retired 
agriculturist at Mahomet, married Miss Mary Abbott. 

George H. Pittman was born in New Jersey, but was taken when a 
child by his parents to Ohio, where he grew up, was educated in the common 
schools, and lived in the Buckeye State until after his marriage. All his 
children were born in Ohio and on moving to Champaign County he 
continued his career as a renter, and by the hardest kind of work he pro- 
vided for his family and always performed to the best of his ability the 
duties laid upon him as a citizen and neighbor. He was an old-line Whig 
and from that became a Republican, and he and his wife were very active 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He served on its official board. His 
death occurred in Mahomet about 1895 and his remains now rest in River- 
side Cemetery, where an appropriate monument stands to mark the spot. 
His wife was born near Middletown, Ohio, was reared and educated there 
and died about 1897. She was a fine type of courageous pioneer woman 
and gave the best of her life to the service of her home and children. 
The name Pittman is of English stock. 

Joseph C. W. Pittman secured his first educational advantages in 
Mahomet Township. His privileges were somewhat limited and most of 

2 4 



574 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

his training was the result of experience and observation. At the age of 
twenty-one he started out to make his own way in the world, without any 
cash capital and with nothing to rely upon except a disposition for honesty 
and industry. For six years he rented and farmed and then accepted an 
opportunity to buy 107 acres in the northwest part of the township. He 
went in debt for the greater part of the purchase price and finally traded 
the land for another farm, and that, too, he sold. He then bought 280 
acres in Mahomet Township, and on this he assumed a debt of $5,000. He 
carried these obligations and disposed of them as rapidly as possible and 
in the course of time his substantial success was assured. Many improve- 
ments have been made on his farm, including a new residence, four differ- 
ent barns, substantial fences and other improvements. About 1907 he 
bought eighty acres more and added a forty-acre tract in 1912. His home- 
stead in Mahomet Township now includes 340 acres of the rich and fertile 
soil of that region. Besides this he has 240 acres in Calhoun County, Iowa, 
and is interested as a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company of 
Mahomet and in the Champaign County Fair Association. 

On December 12, 1876, the Centennial year, Mr. Pittman married Miss 
Mary E. Boyer. Their marriage was blessed with the birth of four chil- 
dren, three sons and one daughter, and all of them were carefully trained 
and educated both at home and in school. 

Claude E., the oldest, was educated in the Mahomet High School and 
spent two years in the Illinois State University. For the past six years 
he has been a salesman of agricultural implements for the John Deere 
Company, with home and headquarters at Indianapolis. He married Miss 
Clara Prather, who received her education at Anderson, Indiana, and is a 
daughter of Calvin W. and Arabella (Summers) Prather. Their home is 
now brightened by the presence of one daughter, Louise. Claude Pittman 
is a Republican, a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks 
and his wife is a Presbyterian. 

Mabel G., the only daughter, is the wife of Archie Herriott, a prac- 
tical agriculturist in Mahomet Township. Their two children are named 
Harold and Frank. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
at Mahomet. 

Elmer D., the second son, supplemented his training in the common 
schools by a two years' agricultural course at the state university and is 
now applying his knowledge and experience as a farmer in Mahomet Town- 
ship. He is a member of the Masonic order at Mahomet and he and his 
wife are active Methodists. He married Miss Ruth Bishop, and their son 
has been given the name J. C. W., Jr. 

Cecil, the youngest child, is a graduate of the Champaign High School 
and is now successfully devoting himself to farming in Mahomet Township. 
He married Miss Blanche Bell and their two children are Viola and 
Catherine E. They have membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Mrs. Pittman, the mother of these children, was born in Champaign 
County, December 25, 1850, a daughter of George and Mary E. Boyer. 
Her parents died in 1872 and 1874 respectively. Mrs. Pittman was a grad- 
uate of the Mahomet High School and also of the Illinois Woman's College 
at Jacksonville. For nearly forty years she was a loyal wife, a devoted 
home maker, and expressed her many kindly qualities and good deeds in 
her community and among her friends. Her death on January 25, 1915, 
\ras a great loss not only to the family but to the entire community. 

Mr. Pittman has been a loyal Republican since casting his first presi- 
dential vote for General Grant forty-five years ago. At different times 
he has served as a delegate to county conventions and has filled many 
places of honor and responsibility. For nine years he was road commis- 
sioner, was township supervisor six years, has been one of the men in his 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 575 

section of Champaign County to advocate consistently and unselfishly the 
cause of good roads, and has also accepted every opportunity to advance the 
interests of the local schools. He is now and has been for four years 
school treasurer of Mahomet Township. Mr. Pittman is also one of the 
prominent Methodists of his section of the county, was a member of the 
building committee when the present Methodist Church at Mahomet was 
built, is a member of the church official board and for over twenty-one years 
has been superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school and is 
yet superintendent. For four years his brother DuBois was superintendent 
of this same Sunday school. He gave up that position when he went to 
the war as a Union soldier and died from the effects of a wound received in 
the battle of Kenesaw Mountain during the Atlanta campaign. 

Those movements which have been undertaken for the advancement of 
his home county have always found Mr. Pittman a capable and effective 
co-operator. His is a name everywhere spoken with respect and due loyalty 
for a man whose life has been so consistently honest and honorable. In 
1917 Mr. Pittman made a trip back to his old home in Ohio, and after an 
absence of sixty-one years revisited the old scenes and landmarks of his 
early childhood and of his parents' early associations. One of the things 
that interested him most was the towpath of the old canal that went 
and his mother of Ohio. The father left Virginia in early youth, settling 
standing and people are living in it at the present time. 

EVARTS BOUTELL GREENE has been Professor of History in the Uni- 
versity of Illinois since 1897, and from 1906 to 1913 was dean of the 
College of Literature and Arts. He has been connected with the State 
University twenty-three years, is well known as an historical author and 
editor, and is a member of an old American family that has furnished many 
useful men and women to the arts and professions. 

He was born in Kobe, Japan, July 8, 1870, a son of Daniel Crosby and 
Mary Jane (Forbes) Greene. The late Daniel Crosby Greene, who died 
September 15, 1913, was one of the pioneer American missionaries in 
Japan and was long considered an authority on Japanese life and affairs. 
He was born at Roxbury, Boston, February 11, 1843, and was a member 
of a Massachusetts Colonial family. His parents were Rev. David and Mary 
(Evarts) Greene. A brother of D. Crosby Greene is Roger Sherman 
Greene, who made a brilliant record as a soldier in the Civil War and 
in 1870 was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of Washington Ter- 
ritory and has practiced law and taken a prominent part in public affairs 
in Seattle for the past forty years. D. Crosby Greene was graduated 
from Dartmouth College in 1864. In 1862 he served as a private in the 
Seventh Squadron of Rhode Island Cavalry. In 1869 he entered upon 
his work as a missionary in Japan and his home and activities were in that 
country the rest of his active life. He was president of the Asiatic Society 
of Japan in 1896 and 1901-02, and was lecturer on Japan in Harvard Uni- 
versity in 1908-09. He was author of the Chinese New Testament, pre- 
pared for Japanese readers, 1878 ; Course of Study for Students of the 
Japanese Language, 1903 ; was joint translator of the Japanese New Testa- 
ment; revised and brought up to date Ritter's History of Protestant 
Missions in Japan, 1898; and was editor of the Christian Movement in 
its Relation to the New Life in Japan. ' He was married to Mary Jane 
Forbes in 1869. Besides Evarts Boutell Greene two other sons have 
gained distinction, Jerome Davis and Roger Sherman Greene. Jerome 
Davis Greene was secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation 1913-16, and 
is also a member of the International Health Commission of the General 
Education Board, the Board of Overseers of Harvard University. Roger 



576 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Sherman Greene was in the consular service in South America, Japan and 
Russia, subsequently consul general at Hankow, China, and since 1914 has 
been resident director in China of the China Medical Board for the Rocke- 
feller Foundation. 

Evarts Boutell Greene was a student in Northwestern University at 
Evanston, Illinois, from 1885 to 1888, and graduated from Harvard Uni- 
versity in 1890, A. M. in 1891, and with the Doctor of Philosophy degree 
in 1893. 

From 1890 to 1893 he was assistant in history at Harvard and during 
1893-94 was Harris Traveling Fellow of Harvard University and a student 
in the University of Berlin. In 1894 he became assistant professor of 
history in the University of Illinois, was associate professor during 1895-97, 
and since 1894 has been head of the history department. Mr. Greene has 
been president of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois State Historical 
Library since 1910. In 1913 he was appointed a member of the Illinois 
State Centennial Commission, was a member of the Centennial Building 
Commission which in 1916 purchased the site of the Centennial Building, 
and as chairman of the publication committee of the Illinois Centennial 
Commission has had general supervision of its historical publications. 
Since 1913 he has been secretary of the Council of the American Historical 
Association, and was a member of the Council from 1908 to 1911. He 
is corresponding member of the Chicago and Minnesota Historical Societies 
and of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and member (1917) of the 
National Board for Historical Service, Washington. 

Mr. Greene as an author has the following works to his credit: The 
Provincial Governor in the English Colonies of North America, 1898; 
1 The Government of Illinois, 1904 ; Provincial America, 1905 ; was joint 
author with C. W. Alvord of The Governors' Letter Book, 1818-1834, and 
with C. M. Thompson of the Governors' Letter Book, 1840-53; American 
Interest in Popular Government Abroad, 1917. His contributions have also 
frequently appeared in historical and educational periodicals. 

ROLLO STEWART BASSETT is a lumberman of wide and thorough expe- 
rience in both the manufacturing and business ends of the industry, and for 
the past ten years has been district manager of the Alexander Lumber 
Company, with headquarters at Champaign. 

Mr. Bassett was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 9, 1872, a son of 
Charles F. and Bertha (Stewart) Bassett. His father was born in Cin- 
cinnati and his mother in Newport, Kentucky. His father is an old time 
lumberman, is an honored veteran of the Civil War, having served three 
years in the armies of Burnside, and is still living at Cincinnati, being 
connected with the National Flag Company of that city. His wife died 
at the age of forty-two. There were four children : Rollo S. ; Edna, 
deceased; Newton, of El Paso, Texas; and Ferris, of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Rollo S. Bassett attended local schools at Cincinnati, and at the age 
of sixteen began working with his father in the lumber business. Later 
he attended high school and also the Art and Mechanical Institute of 
Cincinnati, where he perfected himself in mechanical designing and illus- 
trating. Mr. Bassett at the age of twenty-two went to Chicago and was 
connected with a wholesale milling concern in that city until 1908. In 
that year he came to Champaign as his headquarters, and as district man- 
ager for the Alexander Lumber Company his territory covers Rantoul, 
Villa -Grove, Penfield, Royal, Mansfield, Sidell, Champaign and Decatur. 

Mr. Bassett was married September 13, 1893, to Miss Ethel Sibley 
Benham, of Cincinnati. Their two children are Stewart Sibley and Mar- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 577 

garet Beriham. Mr. Bassett is an accomplished musician, and while in 
Chicago he served as organist for the First Congregational Church. He is 
now deacon in the First Congregational Church of Champaign. Mr. 
Bassett is a Knight Templar Mason and in politics is a Eepublican. 

J. E. NYE. By reason of long residence in Champaign County, for a 
period of sixty years, by the ability shown in varied undertakings and by 
the honesty and high character of its members the Nye family is one 
of the best known in the county and the name is everywhere spoken with 
respect and esteem which are their due. 

Of this family is J. E. Nye, who came to Champaign County when a boy 
of two years of age and is now able to take life somewhat at leisure in one 
of the fine country homes south of the village of St. Joseph. 

He was born in Gallia County, Ohio, April 7, 1855, a son of Arius and 
Rebecca (Gardner) Nye. Both parents were natives of Ohio and the Nya 
ancestry goes back to the New England states. The grandfather, Nial Nye, 
served as a colonel in the War of 1812. Arius Nye brought his family 
to Illinois in 1857, arriving in Champaign County in the month of Sep- 
tember. He had three children, J. E., Louis E., now deceased, and Mary E., 
Mrs. S. N. Prather of Deland, Florida. These children were educated in 
the Allen school of Champaign County. 

J. E. Nye grew up in this locality and was well trained to habits of 
industry in addition to the lessons he learned from school books. On 
December 9, 1879, at the age of twenty-four, he married Miss Ella E. Ford, 
who was born in Union County, Ohio, youngest daughter of William J. and 
Catherine (Birely) Ford. The Ford family came to Illinois in September, 
I860, first settling on a farm near Mansfield in Piatt County, but in the 
fall of 1863 moving to Urbana. There were three children in the Ford 
family, Sarah E., Louis E. and Ella E. They received their early educa- 
tional advantages in the Marriott school north of Urbana and also at the 
Allen school, in which vicinity Mr. Ford had bought a farm. 

After the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Nye they rented a farm in Somer 
Township during the spring of 1880 and having the equipment of industry 
and energy they worked to such good advantage that year that they were 
then able to buy forty acres of land for their own. They paid $30 an acre, 
subsequently adding another forty acres. They had confidence that their 
labors would be rewarded and were not afraid to undertake responsibilities 
beyond their immediate resources. Later they sold their first farm at a 
good profit and bought a place in section 4, Somer Township, two miles 
south of Thomasboro. 

Mr. and Mrs. Nye had four children, one son and three daughters. 
The son and the daughter Nettie E. died in infancy. The other two 
(laughters are Kate and Maude. They were well educated in the local 
district schools, the high school at Thomasboro and the Urbana High 
School. Kate finished a course in Brown's Business College. She is now 
the wife of Albert Stonestreet, a prosperous farmer in Kerr Township. 
Mr. and Mrs. Stonestreet have one child, Leslie, born June 24, 1908. He 
is now attending the public schools at Penfield, and is taking his education 
very seriously and is showing much proficiency in his studies. He rides 
back and forth from home to school on his black and white pony, Prince, 
which is the gift to him from his Grandfather Nye. This pony is the 
cherished companion of the boy and it performs its part well like a faith- 
ful friend in carrying its young master back and forth to school. The 
daughter Maude married Walter C. Wood, a practical farmer who lives 
on part of Mr. Nye's estate. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have two sons, Paul and 
Maurice, the former born May 20, 1913, and the latter April 13, 1915, both 
fine boys and great favorites of their grandparents. 



578 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. and Mrs. Nye lived at Thomasboro twelve years, then at Urbana 
five years, having in the meantime sold their Thomasboro property, and 
they then bought their present farm of 240 acres in sections 27 and 28 of 
St. Joseph Township. Mr. Nye for years has been successfully engaged in 
the raising of Poland China hogs and Plymouth Eock poultry, and handles 
only thoroughbred stock. His farm is known as the Timber View Farm 
and in point of improvements and general value it ranks as one of the 
very best anywhere in Champaign County. 

Mr. Nye is a stalwart Republican, having cast his first vote for Hayes 
in 1876. He is a public spirited citizen, served as justice of the peace 
while living at Thomasboro and has always been willing to take his place 
in the ranks and fight for any cause that reflected the welfare of the 
community. 

DAVID B. WEIGHT was born in Millerstown, Pennsylvania, March 26, 
1867, a son of John B. and Elmira (Cox) Wright, both of whom are natives 
of Pennsylvania. His father, who died in Missouri, enlisted in the Forty- 
second Pennsylvania Infantry and served until the battle of Gettysburg. 
He and his wife had five children: William I., deceased; James A. of 
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ; David B. ; Minerva, widow of John L. McKinsie 
of Champaign; and John B., deceased. 

When David B. Wright was seven years of age he was sent to a soldiers' 
orphans' home in Pennsylvania, where he remained until he was sixteen. 
After that he continued as a teacher in the orphans' home for one year. 
While there, in addition to literary studies, he had learned the marble 
cutting trade and he worked at it for three years at Newport, Pennsylvania, 
and subsequently was in business at another town in that state. 

In 1889 Mr. Wright came out to Champaign County and located at 
Mahomet. For about four years he was employed on farms, and then capi- 
talized his experience and invested his modest means in a place of 100 
acres in section 17 of Champaign Township. That farm has since been 
the object of his constant endeavors at improvements and he has found 
himself well situated in later years, commanding the resources of a good 
farm and having every comfort that one could desire. 

On February 18, 1892, Mr. Wright married Tillie Jahr, who was born 
at Mahomet in Champaign County. They have two children : Almeda 
Zay, who is now attending the Illinois Woman's College at Jacksonville, 
and Helen Esther, a high school girl. 

Politically Mr. Wright has been a Republican since casting his first 
vote. He is now assistant supervisor of highways. He is also deputy 
assessor and has served as president of the board of school trustees and as 
district commissioner of ditches. In Masonry he is district inspector of 
the Royal Arch Masons and was high priest of the Champaign chapter. 
The badge of jewels presented to him as high priest is an article he prizes 
highly. 

OLIVER B. DOBBINS. As a lawyer Oliver B. Dobbins has gained some 
of the better distinctions and successes of the profession. He has been in 
practice in the profession in Champaign County twenty-three years. His 
ability is sought in cases of more than ordinary importance. During his 
career Mr. Dobbins has appeared in more than a hundred cases in the 
Supreme and Appellate Courts of the state. Of such cases he has suc- 
ceeded in winning at a ratio of three out of four, and at one time he 
secured favorable decisions in twelve successive appeals. An individual 
distinction of which any lawyer might be proud is that he procured the 
largest judgment ever rendered in Champaign County in an action for 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 579 

fraud sixty thousand dollars. Mr. Dobbins has made a specialty of 
organizing and representing drainage districts, having organized and 
appeared as attorney for fifty such districts. His work in that line now 
covers a dozen counties. 

As a public leader Mr. Dobbins' name is synonymous with high ideals 
and the better element of local citizenship. In national politics he has 
always been a Democrat, and has also been closely identified with anti- 
saloon work. In 1896 as county chairman of the Democratic party he had 
th,e honor of piloting the party to its first county victory in fifty years. 

From 1913 to 1915 Mr. Dobbins was mayor of Champaign. That 
administration will have a notable place in a subsequent survey of the 
city's history. A body of business men interested in the welfare of Cham- 
paign obtained a petition signed by six hundred persons to induce Mr. 
Dobbins to accept the nomination as leader of an independent movement 
to clean out the dives and joints with which the city was infested. A 
voluntary subscription of $800 was pledged for the campaign. Mr. 
Dobbins was elected by an overwhelming vote, exceeding that of 
the regular Republican and Democratic candidates combined. People 
did not have to wait long to find out what he would do in office. 
His was a truly reform administration. It was marked by a continuous 
and unrelenting fight to make the city clean. During that fight one of 
his policemen was murdered and the chief of police was shot. His admin- 
istration was not confined entirely to the moral benefit and uplift. There 
also ensued an immense amount of public improvement, particularly notice- 
able in police and fire departments and in street improvements. Mr. 
Dobbins' name appears as mayor on either the ordinances or warrants for 
pavements laid on sixteen streets of the city. 

Oliver B. Dobbins was born at Gallatin, Tennessee, December 6, 1870, 
and is of old Southern and Revolutionary stock. His great-grandfather 
Dobbins fought with the Carolina Rangers under the leadership of Marion 
in the Revolutionary War. His grandfather, Henry Dobbins, was born at 
Gallatin, Tennessee, in 1798, was a planter in that state, and died there in 
November, 1870. He was a whig and a member of the Cumberland Presby- 
terian Church. 

Foster Dobbins, father of the Champaign lawyer, was born at Gallatin, 
Tennessee, May 19, 1838, grew up there, and served one year in the Con- 
federate army during the war. He was taken prisoner at the battle of 
Murfreesboro, was confined for a short time at Nashville, and on being 
paroled came North and taught school at Toronto until the close of hostil- 
ities. In February, 1871, he settled with his family at Bushnell in 
McDonough County, Illinois, in 1875 removed to Gibson City in Ford 
County, and 1876 to a farm in East Bend Township of Champaign County. 
He was actively engaged in farming there until 1899, when he removed 
to Urbana, where his death occurred in April, 1908. In politics he was 
a Whig until the war and after that a Democrat. His religious affiliation 
was with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Foster Dobbins married 
Margaret Beard, who was born at Gallatin, Tennessee, December 8, 1844, 
came to Illinois in 1871 and died in Champaign County, October 30, 1881, 
when her son Oliver B. was ten years of age. She was a daughter of 
Henry and Hannah (Sloan) Beard. Foster Dobbins and wife were 
married at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1866, and became the parents of seven 
children, five of whom are still living. 

Oliver B. Dobbins had three uncles, brothers of his mother, and one 
paternal uncle, who were killed during the Civil War. 

Mr. Dobbins was six years of age when the family removed to Cham- 
paign County. He attended the common schools, and in 1888-89 was a 



580 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

student in the Illinois State Normal University at Normal. Four years 
of his early career were spent as a teacher in Champaign and Ford 
counties. From 1892 to 1894 he attended the Wesleyan University at 
Bloomington, where he was graduated in the law course in June, 1894, and 
on his degree of LL. B. was. admitted to practice. On the 24th of June in 
the same year he opened his office at Urbana with Spencer M. White, under 
the firm name of White & Dobbins. After seven years this firm was 
dissolved and Mr. Dobbins removed to Champaign, where in 1891 he 
formed a partnership with J. L. Ray as Ray & Dobbins. Mr. Ray retired 
on account of ill health in 1914 and Mr. Dobbins has since practiced with 
his brother D. C. Dobbins, under the firm name of .Dobbins & Dobbins. 

Mr. Dobbins is a member of the Presbyterian Church, belongs to the 
Champaign County Country Club and the Champaign Club, and is a Mason 
and Elk. He was married December 15, 1897, to Miss Edith Leonard, 
who was born at Elliot, Illinois, July 13, 1874. They have three children: 
Ray F. Dobbins, born November 26, 1901, and a junior in the Champaign 
High School; Dorothy, a freshman in the same school, born September 4, 
1903; and Leonard, born September 26, 1907, attending the grade schools. 

H. M. MOUEIS has long been a resident of Rantoul and is proprietor 
of a beautiful home and a large greenhouse at the north end of the village. 
Mr. Morris has a creditable record as an old soldier of the Union, though 
he was a very young man when the war was in progress. His life has been 
a busy one and he and Mrs. Morris have well earned the esteem and the 
comforts which they now enjoy. 

He was born in Ohio, a son of Edwin and Mary (Benson) Morris, both 
natives of Ohio. The Morris ancestors were pioneers in Ohio from the 
State of Connecticut. H. M. Morris was seven years of age when his 
mother died and his father afterwards married again and in 1864 brought 
his family to Illinois. H. M. Morris secured his early education in the 
public schools of Ohio and subsequently attended school in Champaign 
County. 

While living in Ohio his ardent patriotism shone forth, and though he 
was much younger than the accepted age at which enlistments were taken 
he managed to get into the army and went to the front. He was finally 
taken prisoner and paroled. He was eighteen years of age when his father 
came to Illinois and located on a farm near Rantoul. Still the war was 
in progress and the nation's trials and difficulties were not yet ended. Mr. 
Morris then accepted another call to service, this time in a three months' 
regiment. He went out in February, 1865, for a second term of duty 
and marched away to the music of the fife and drum and was on duty in 
Tennessee and Kentucky until the war came to a close. 

In 1868 Mr. Morris laid the foundation of his own home by his mar- 
riage to Miss Harriet Myers. Mrs. Morris was born at Dansville in Liv- 
ingston County, New York, daughter of Peter and Theresa (Gardner) 
Myers. In 1856 the Myers family came to Illinois. The family consisted 
of two sons and two daughters, Horatio, Charles, Helen and Harriet. 
Horatio Myers was one of the ardent young patriotic citizens of Champaign 
County, and in the fall of 1860 he was employed in the Gazette office at 
Champaign and had enrolled as a member of the "Wide Awakes" organiza- 
tion for the defense of the Union and as factors in the campaign in which 
Mr. Lincoln was elected for the presidency. While attending a mass meet- 
ing at Middletown (now Mahomet) a great fla? pole was raised and when 
it fell he was struck down and killed, and thus the candle of life of a 
brave and enthusiastic young citizen was extinguished. The other son of 
Mr. Myers, Charles, died of brain fever at the age of sixteen. Peter Myers 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 581 

was a prominent and influential man in Champaign County, especially 
before and during the war. He was a stanch abolitionist and used his 
influence to keep up and maintain Union sentiments. Mrs. Morris' sister 
Helen married George Condit, and her death occurred about ten years ago. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Morris located at Eantoul, where 
be was employed by his father-in-law, Peter Myers, in the lumber and 
grain business. The young people had the qualities of thrift and enterprise 
and as rapidly as possible assembled about themselves the things which 
have given them independence, comfort and opportunity to serve others 
and the community as well as themselves. Mr. Morris was for seven years 
postmaster of Eantoul. 

Some years ago he secured his present home' on Ohio Street on the 
north side of the village, and there erected the commodious greenhouses by 
which his enterprise is chiefly known throughout his large community. 
He raises flowers and fruits and for twenty years has conducted a very 
successful business in that line. His home is a most attractive place, com- 
bining the facilities of country and town. In their dooryard stand some 
large shade trees, rare shrubs and flowers. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Morris were born seven children, Charles, Eoy, Mabel, 
Keith, Helen and two daughters, Fern and Eose, who died early. The 
children that grew up were educated in the Eantoul High School, Charles, 
Keith and Helen graduating. Charles, Mabel and Keith were successful 
teachers in Champaign County and Charles taught in several other coun- 
ties of the state. Mabel became a student at Normal, Illinois, and Eoy 
was for a time in Oberlin College in Ohio. Charles Morris married Mary 
Lindsey and now lives at Kilbourn, Wisconsin. Their three children are 
named Claud, Keith and Wendland. The son Claud is married and has 
three children, great-grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Morris, they are named 
Eobert, Geraldine and Mary. 

Eoy Morris is an ice cream manufacturer at Havana, Illinois. He mar- 
ried Miss Eleanor Bay of Arcola. 

Mabel Morris is the wife of Prof. H. P. Little, a graduate of the 
University of Illinois and former superintendent of schools at Momence. 
Professor Little died, leaving his widow and six children. These children 
are Elizabeth, Morris, Harriet, Harold, Edith and Florence. Harriet is 
deceased, dying before her father. The oldest, Elizabeth, is the wife of 
Samuel Yates and has a son, Philip. 

Keith Morris is employed by the Short Line Bailroad and lives at Ban- 
loul. He married Frances Lindsey and has two sons, Lindsey and Eichard. 

Helen Morris married Stafford Miller, a railway conductor living in 
Chicago. Their four children are Eobert, Jeannette, Merritt and Staf- 
ford, Jr. 

Mr. Morris has always been a. member of the Congregational Church. 
Mrs. Morris is a very able and enthusiastic devotee of the Church of Christ 
Scientist of Boston, and has studied thoroughly and mastered the principles 
of that faith and practiced it most intelligently. She has won her children 
to the same views and her daughter and daughter-in-law are Science prac- 
titioners. 

Politically Mr. and Mrs. Morris support the Eepublican party, but both 
have voted the Progressive ticket. Mrs. Morris believes in the progressive- 
ness of the human family and it is her opinion that an age which has con- 
tributed so many splendid figures to science and industry should not be 
deficient in men of leadership in politics. Mr. and Mrs. Morris have always 
endeavored to fill their places as true and honorable citizens and their lives 
have consequently meant much in the community. Both now and in gen- 
erations to come the descendants will always be proud of the record Mr. 



582 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Morris made as a boy soldier of the Union. His subsequent life has been 
equally creditable and honorable and the record in detail of Mr. and Mrs. 
Morris would show countless duties well performed and responsibilities 
faithfully and unselfishly borne by each. 

CHARLES F. HAMILTON. The business life of Champaign owes much 
to the enterprise and energy of Charles F. Hamilton. He first became 
identified with the city in the lumber trade, and while he has numerous 
interests elsewhere he has always remained loyal to this city and it is not 
only to him a home but a place where his many well considered investments 
have contributed much to local improvement and benefit. 

Mr. Hamilton is a native of Macoupin County, Illinois, where he was 
born November 26, 1864, a son of Julius and Virginia L. (VanDeventer) 
Hamilton. His parents were both natives of Virginia and of old Colonial 
stock. Julius Hamilton came out to Illinois in 1856, first locating in 
Cass County, and in 1861 establishing a home in Macoupin County. For 
many years he was one of the most extensive lumber dealers in the state, 
operating a string of yards throughout the state. In the fall of 1880 he 
removed to Champaign and from this city he subsequently directed his 
interests and he died here January 21, 1903. His wife is also deceased 
and they were the parents of three children: Mary, Lizzie and Charles F. 

Charles F. Hamilton acquired a good education, but most of it out of 
school and by active contact with men and affairs. When only fifteen years 
of age he started work in bis father's lumber yard. In a few years he was 
able to relieve his father of many of the heavier responsibilities of the 
business, and they continued actively associated until 1890. In that year 
Mr. Hamilton went to Watseka, Illinois, and for three years was in the 
lumber and coal business for himself. Returning to Champaign in 1893, 
he again became his father's associate as a lumberman. For ten years 
Mr. Hamilton was manager of the Walker Opera House at Champaign. 
In later years many of his investments have been made in California. 
Much of his time 'has been spent at Los Angeles, where both of his children 
live. In 1915-16 he erected a large three-story brick building at the 
corner of Park Avenue and Neil Street. 

On July 3, 1884, he married Miss Mary Rugg, daughter of Daniel 
Rugg, who was one of the pioneers of Champaign County. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hamilton have two children : Julius R., a successful young physician, 
practicing at Los Angeles; and Florence, wife of Samuel J. Tilden, of 
Los Angeles. 

JOHN FIOCK. Behind every fine farm, home and industry of Cham- 
paign County lies a story of sacrifice and strenuous personal endeavor. It 
has required the labors of an army of men and women to make Champaign 
County what it is today, and this publication performs its greatest service 
when appropriate credit may be given to those men who effected some share 
in the transformation. 

Doubtless one of the most interesting of these stories of personal 
struggle and effort is that of Mr. John Fiock of St. Joseph Township. 
Mr. Fiock was born in Morgan Township of Harrison County, Indiana, 
March 6, 1847, a son of Charles and Elizabeth (Helfrer) Fiock. His 
father was born in Germany and his mother in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 
in which city they married. Soon after their marriage they started to 
find a new home in the wilderness of southern Indiana. When they first 
located in Harrison County they had two neighbors, ten miles away. 
Their home was in the woods, and they had to clear the land for the planting 
of the first few acres. Charles Fiock put in and cultivated his first five- 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 583 

acre crop of corn with a grubbing hoe. In the meantime another neighbor 
located near by, and together, with the use of such crude implements as 
they had, they fabricated a wheelbarrow. This was the only vehicle they 
had to transport their produce and bring back supplies from New Albany, 
a distance of eighteen miles. On the wheelbarrow they loaded a few 
chickens and a few dozen eggs, a rope was tied to the wheelbarrow, and 
one of them pulled and the other pushed until they arrived in town, cover- 
ing a most rugged stretch of land on the way. Later these two men manu- 
factured by the same toilsome process a wagon. Not a single strip of 
iron entered into the construction, even the wheels being of wood. Several 
of the neighbors combined to purchase an old gray mare, and this com- 
munity asset was a possession of which all were very proud. This old 
horse drew the wagon back and forth to market. That is one instance 
of pioneer difficulty, and the entire story would take a long time to tell. 

When John Fiock was three weeks old his mother died, and his father 
subsequently married again, and by both wives had seven children. When 
John was a school boy the nearest schoolhouse was three miles away and 
the term was usually three months a year. Thus he had limited oppor- 
tunities to acquire a knowledge of books, but he made the best of them. 
On Sunday morning the entire family would attend religious services 
and the afternoons were spent at Sunday school. The boys and girls of 
the neighborhood up to the age of eighteen would come to the Sunday school 
barefooted. The girls wore "cornstalk shakers" and they took a good deal 
of pride in this simple home-made adornment. The Fiock family were 
devoted members of the German Evangelical Church, and all the children 
grew up in that faith. 

From early boyhood John Fiock had to struggle with poverty and harsh 
conditions, and though he grew up in a community of wholesome and neigh- 
borly people, it was hard work that made existence possible. In 1875 he 
laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage to Miss Mary Den- 
hart. She was also a native of Harrison County, Indiana, daughter of 
John and Elizabeth (Zimmerman) Denhart. Her father was a native of 
Iowa and her mother of Germany. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. 
Fiock located on forty acres in Blue Eiver Township of Harrison County, 
having bought that land for $8 an acre. They lived there for ten years. 
The land was rough and the quality of soil very poor, and after ten years 
Mr/ Fiock found that it was impossible to make a living there. 

Seeking the better lands of Illinois, he came to Champaign County and 
got off the train at St. Joseph August 17, 1875. His entire stock of cash 
capital consisted of 35 cents. With him came his wife and five children. 
Fortunate indeed was he in making the acquaintance of Isaac T. Leas, 
who proved a Lord Bountiful to the Fiock family and vouched for Mr. 
Fiock when he bought his cook stove and other necessary furniture, and 
also gave him work and encouraged and helped him in many ways, mani- 
festing the true spirit of brotherly love. For two years Mr. Fiock rented 
land of Mr. Leas. At the end of that time he began looking around for 
another place to rent. One day in St. Joseph he saw a -bill announcing 
the sale of seventy-seven acres of unimproved land. Being very anxious 
to locate in a permanent home, he endeavored to get in touch with the 
owner of the land. The price fixed for this tract was $26 an acre. Mr. 
Fiock did not even have the money to buy a postage stamp so that he 
might write to the land owner at Champaign. In this emergency he 
gathered some eggs, took them to the village of St. Joseph, and tried 
to trade them in goods, reserving only 2 cents for a stamp. The mer- 
chant refused to give him the 2 cents, but for a man of his spirit and 
determination he refused to let such a small matter as a postage stamp 



584 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

stand in his way. He then secured what he calls "a cross tie ticket" and 
walked the entire twelve miles to Champaign. The owner of the land 
when interviewed refused to rent, but said that he would make it possible 
for Mr. Fiock to buy the land. The next thing to do was to raise the first 
payment. Mr. Fiock returned home, sold a colt, and returning to Cham- 
paign made his first payment of $60. The agreement was that in thirty 
clays he must pay $40 more or the contract would be void by afternoon of 
that day. 

At 11 o'clock in the morning on the day the contract expired Mr. 
Fiock again returned to his old friend and benefactor, Isaac Leas. Find- 
ing Mr. Leas at home, he said: "Mr. Leas, if I do not raise $40 I 
lose my land today." Mr. Leas was building a fence. He was not a man 
of many words or of hesitation. "We have not much time," he said, and 
sticking his ax into a stump, went at once to the house, told his good wife 
to prepare lunch and directed Mr. Fiock to grease the buggy. The horse 
was soon hitched up and they drove at full speed to the office of Mr. Mahan, 
owner of the land. Already a family was waiting to buy the land and 
offered $100 more than Mr. Fiock was to pay. Mr. Leas told the agent 
to write out a check, this was was given to Mr. Fiock and he was directed 
to hand the paper into the window of the bank and he was soon in posses- 
sion of the coveted $40. The payment was made and the contract secured. 
This was a red letter day in the history of the Fiock family, and it is not 
strange that for Mr. Leas' part in the transaction and for numerous other 
kindnesses they hold his memory in lasting gratitude. 

The following day the Fiocks moved to their new possession and thus 
entered upon a new and better period of existence. In the Fiock family 
from the oldest to -the youngest the name of Leas is spoken with a rever- 
ence that amounts to a benediction. Another incident of this family's early 
clays in Champaign County is concerned with their first flock of chickens. 
It consisted of six hens and a rooster, and Mr. Fiock put in a long day 
of toil to pay for each fowl. Poultry raising has always been a feature 
of his farm industry and he and his wife still have a large number of 
chickens at their home. 

The contract for the first purchase of his farm provided that $200 
should be paid on the principal every year in addition to the interest, and 
Mr. Fiock worked strenuously to raise that amount, and when he did not 
have it all his good neighbors loaned it to him, and thus he gradually 
paid for the land and bought more besides until he had an estate of 133 
acres. For some of this he paid as high as $100 an acre. Those days of 
toil and struggle have long since passed, and the Fiock family have long 
enjoyed the fruits of prosperity in this garden spot of Illinois. Their land 
has been transformed by cultivation, by the planting of many trees, the 
building of a commodious home and the installation of many comforts and 
conveniences. 

Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Fiock, and besides the 
struggle they had in providing a home they deserve the greatest credit for 
rearing and training this young household to lives of fruitful endeavor and 
worthy principles. The children were named George, Charles, Lizzie, 
Eddie, Anna, Mag, Louis, Joseph, Frank, Jacob, who died at the age of 
two years, and William. These children attended the Argo and Bowers 
schools. George, a farmer living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, married Viola 
Gibbink, and their children are Pearl, Earl, Olive, Grace and Mildred. 
The son Charles married Blanche Mapes, and they have three children, 
Beulah, Grace and Clyde. Lizzie is the wife of Charles Bartus, and they 
have a large family, consisting of Gertrude, Clara, John, Russell, Charles, 
Chester, Floyd, Ernest, Frank, Elmer and Dan. The son Eddie is a 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 585 

machinist at Indianapolis, and by his marriage to Hattie Mohs has two 
children, Clarence and Earl. Anna married John Brittenham, and their 
two children are Marie and Charles. Mag is still living at home with her 
parents. Louis married Leona Swearingen and has two daughters, Neva 
and Morine. Joseph married Sadie Denhart and has one child, Verbal. 
Frank married Anna Worley and has a daughter, Gladys. William Fiock, 
who manages his father's farm, married Cynthia Worley and has a small 
son, William Virgil. 

From the time these children were born Mr. and Mrs. Fiock carefully 
studied and worked out the problems involved in their rearing and training 
and have been splendidly rewarded by the upright and honorable men and 
women who have gone out from their home to the active responsibilities of 
the world. While Mr. and Mrs. Fiock were reared as German Evangelical 
Church members, their children all attend the Christian Church in St. 
Joseph. 

In politics Mr. Fiock is a Democrat, and for thirty years has belonged 
to the Modern Woodmen of America. He has shown much public spirit 
as a citizen, has served as road supervisor and has done all he could to 
carry forward community improvement. They are completely justified in 
enjoying the fruits of their well spent years, and they are most pleasantly 
located in a home north of St. Joseph. Mention should be made of a most 
interesting family heirloom possessed by Mr. Fiock. It is a pocketknife 
which is more than 200 years old and is still in a good state of preserva- 
tion. It was hand made in Germany near the River Rhine and was given 
to Mr. Fiock's father by Grandfather Fiock. It contains a good solid 
blade, a small saw, a punch and also an instrument resembling a lance, 
used for bleeding horses. Mr. Fiock's father with this implement carved 
out all the furniture he used when he began housekeeping in the woods of 
Indiana. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fiock believe in getting all the pleasure of life possible, 
and in the beautiful month of September, 1917, with one of their sons and 
wife made a 2,000-mile auto trip through Canada, visiting his sisters and 
relatives at Ridgeway and Stevensville. 

J. 0. ALEXANDER. It is now nearly half a century since Mr. and Mrs. 
J. 0. Alexander laid the foundation of their home and fortune by their 
marriage and during all that time they have lived in the vicinity of Ran- 
toul, have been materially prospered and have also fulfilled that great duty 
of bearing .and rearing children to usefulness and honor in the world's work. 

Mr. Alexander is one of the honored old soldiers of Champaign County. 
He was born near the Sangamon River in Illinois, a son of Henry and 
Polly Alexander. He grew up on the farm and had a district school edu- 
cation. He was twenty-four years of age when the war broke out and he 
soon afterward enlisted in Springfield in the One Hundred and Fourteenth 
Illinois Infantry. He saw three years of active service. He went to the 
front at Cairo, then to Memphis and on to Vicksburg, and altogether 
fought in thirty distinct engagements. He was wounded in the breast and 
wrist and was mustered out at Memphis. 

In October, 1868, he married Sarah Hamm. Mrs. Alexander was born 
in Indiana, a daughter of John and Harriet Hamm. They started house- 
keeping seven miles west of Rantoul and lived and prospered as farmers 
until they removed to their present comfortable home on Main Street in 
the village of Rantoul. 

The children born to their marriage are: Charles; Ollie, now Mrs. 
Sch'warts; Mrs. Edith Swayze; Harry; Mabel, deceased (she was Mrs. 
Mabel Green); Mrs. Nettie Thayre; Mrs. Inez Messenger; Gertrude; and 



586 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Ada E. The children were well educated, most of them finishing in the 
Eantoul High School. Ada became a successful teacher, taught two years 
in the district schools of this county, two years in Mansfield and for the 
past three years has been connected with the Rantoul High School and is 
still a member of its faculty of instruction. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander also 
have the solace and comfort of grandchildren and one great-grandchild. 
The great-grandchild is Claude Alexander. Their son Charles has three 
children, Roy, Fay and Lessley. Ollie's children are Harold, Alton, Freda 
and Fern, twins. The children of Edith are Mabel, Gwendolin (deceased), 
Clyde, James, Eugene, Bernice (deceased), Harry, Evelyn and Melvin. 
Nettie is the mother of Russell. Inez has one child, Horace. Don and 
Dale are sons of Mabel, who is deceased. Harry has two children, Evalyn 
and Melvin. 

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander are active members of the Baptist Church at 
Rantoul. Politically Mr. Alexander is a Republican. Mrs. Alexander dur- 
ing her girlhood knew Champaign County's great pioneer Henry Sadorus. 
She talked with him many times and she thus stands as a link connecting 
the modern present with the very early times of this section. 

BOYD S. BLAIXE. A position of public trust is necessarily indicative 
of the man who fills it. When the duties of an office demanding a keen 
intellect, a never failing integrity and a capacity for hard and continuous 
labor are, for years, discharged so satisfactorily that popular vote confers 
them successively upon the same person, it is to be assumed that the 
individual thus chosen is possessed of those qualities which make for the 
best arrangements in our official life. In this connection we may mention 
the career of Boyd S. Blaine, one of Champaign County's best known 
officials. When he entered life on his own account it was with the desire 
to become a leader in the business field, but circumstances so shaped them- 
selves that lie went from one public office to another until he finally disposed 
of his business ambitions and since 1912 has held the responsible position 
of circuit clerk and recorder. While it would be interesting to know how 
far Mr. Blaine would have gone in business circles, the people of Champaign 
County can be assured that they would have benefited in no greater degree 
through the work of another man who would have filled the post now 
occupied by the present efficient clerk and recorder. 

Boyd S. Blaine was born on a farm in Champaign Township, Cham- 
paign County, Illinois, August 20, 1868, being a son of James and Cath- 
arine Blaine. His parents, natives of Pennsylvania, came to Champaign 
County in October, 1865, and located on an unimproved farm situated in 
the township of Champaign, where their son Boyd S. "was born. The 
father continued to follow farming and stockraising during the remainder 
of his active career, and made such a success of his operations that he was 
able to retire in 1888. Mr. Blaine was known as a good citizen and an 
industrious agriculturist, and when he died, in January, 1913, the com- 
munity lost one of its representative men. Mrs. Blaine had passed away 
in 1894. Of their seven children four are still living: J. M., a resident of 
Champaign ; Ada, who is the wife of John A. Scott ; Melda, of Champaign, 
and Boyd S., of this review. 

Boyd S. Blaine was given good educational advantages in his youth 
which would have fitted him for almost any vocation which he might have 
cared to follow. After securing his preliminary training he entered the 
Champaign High School, from which he was duly graduated in 1888, and 
at that time became a student at the University of Illinois. He attended 
that institution during 1888 and 1889, and then began to work on his 
own account as a mail carrier at Champaign. At the same time he was 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 587 

devoting his spare time to the carpenter trade, it being his intention to 
eventually become a builder and contractor. In this trade he spent some 
six years and had established some standing in the direction of his ambition, 
when, in December, 1896, he accepted an employment that changed the 
whole trend <3f his career. At the time mentioned he began some special 
work in the recorder's office of the courthouse as a copy clerk, a position 
which he retained until January 1, 1903. His efficiency and fidelity having 
attracted attention, he was then appointed deputy circuit clerk, an office 
which he held until December, 1912, when he was elected circuit clerk and 
recorder, and his first term proved so satisfactory that in 1916 he received 
the re-election. As before noted, Mr. Elaine has established an excellent 
record in handling the affairs of his office and is accounted one of the 
county's most dependable public servants. 

On June 14, 1905, Mr. Elaine was united in marriage with Miss Nelle 
Griffith, of Rankin, Illinois, daughter of George and Viola (Werts) 
Griffith, prominent people of Rankin, where Mrs. Elaine's father is serving 
in the capacity of postmaster. Mr. and Mrs. Elaine have no children. 
They are members of the Presbyterian Church and have been liberal in 
their support of its movements. Mr. Elaine's political views make him a 
Republican, and he has long been considered one of the hard workers in 
his party's ranks in Champaign County. He is affiliated fraternally with 
the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and 
the Masons, in the last named of which he has reached the thirty-second 
degree and is a Knight Templar and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. 

J. A. R. KOCH. "God's finger touched him and he slept," was the 
almost universal thought in St. Joseph Township upon the death of 
J. A. R. Koch, who died suddenly at the home of his son Frank in the 
Mayview community August 9, 1917. Mr. Koch was one of the county's 
prominent, influential, useful and progressive citizens. Every activity in 
his life was employed directly or indirectly for the general welfare, and his 
every heart throb was in sympathy with the righteous aspirations and efforts 
for elevation and improvement among his fellow men. 

His was the type of material success of which America is most proud. 
He came to Champaign County over half a century ago, poor and prac- 
tically friendless, made a competence for himself, provided for others, and 
wrought a strong impress upon the moral and' religious institutions of his 
community. He was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, September 21, 1844, 
a son of Adam and Mary Ann (Gigher) Koch. His father was a native 
of Adams County, Pennsylvania, and his mother of the city of Philadelphia. 
There were seven children, six sons and one daughter, Reuben, Malcolm, 
Adam, Alfred, Edward, J. A. R. and Mrs. Annetta C. Hudson, all of 
whom are now deceased. Alfred and Adam gave their lives to the cause of 
the country during the Civil War, the former dying in a Southern prison 
and the latter in a Southern hospital. Edward, the oldest son, was drowned. 
J. A. R. Koch was the youngest of the family and was twelve days old 
when his father died. His mother was subsequently married twice and 
she died in Ohio, leaving two sons, Benjamin Oyler and Fred Hulshy, 
by her other two husbands. 

J. A. R. Koch had a strenuous career, beginning when he was between 
six and seven years of age. At that time he provided for his own support, 
working on a farm at $2 per month. He had industry and persistence, 
and through his early experience with hardship and difficulty he retained 
to the end of his life a sympathy and kindly feeling for the poor and 
oppressed and in many ways helped them to better lives. 

On November 3, 1864, Mr. Koch arrived in St. Joseph Township of 



588 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Champaign County. He had left a sweetheart behind him in the old 
Buckeye State, and on January 19, 1868, he went back to reclaim her. 
When he left Ohio he was poor but too proud to ask the young lady to 
marry him until he could provide a home. On returning he told her of 
the splendid State of Illinois and of its many favorable opportunities, and 
she was glad to exchange her name from Suzanna Foor to Koch. 

Returning to Illinois with his young bride Mr. Koch worked as a 
farmer, and in February, 1881, settled near May view, where he bought his 
first land for $25 an acre. Later he paid $50 and $85 an acre for other 
lands, and in the course of time he found himself surrounded with ample 
prosperity. His home had always an atmosphere of Christian virtue and 
friendship. For many years Mr. Koch made it a rule to employ principally 
those who had no home of their own, endeavoring to make them feel that 
though deprived of home they could find Christian sympathy and kindness 
which goes so far toward smoothing out the rugged pathway of life. Many 
have gone in and out from the Koch home carrying the happy remembrance 
of the parental kindness of these two worthy people. 

While in Ohio Mr. Koch was a member of the Evangelical Church. 
Among the valued possessions brought with him from that state was the 
letter from his church which he presented to the Methodist Episcopal organ- 
ization at Mayview, which then worshiped in a schoolhouse. Being known 
as a young man of promising industry and of splendid religious faith, he 
soon found introduction into the hearts and homes of many of the pioneer 
families. He always kindly recalled the welcome he received in the homes 
of the Kirkpatricks, the Buseys, and other prominent families, and the 
friendship he thus formed endured to the end. 

Mr. and Mrs. Koch went about the improvement of their home dili- 
gently and made it one of the most attractive spots in St. Joseph Township. 
They were always interested in the work of the community, and while they 
had no children of their own they found room in their hearts and home for 
three orphan children, whom they adopted and to whom they gave their 
own name. Mr. Koch had reared in his home Mary Oyler, daughter of 
his half brother. One other of his farm hands had lived with him for seven 
years. Christopher and Elizabeth McCrughen had died in Champaign 
County, leaving seven orphan children, and Mr. Koch was appointed 
guardian for them. He and his wife subsequently adopted two of the 
boys, A. F. and J. C., and the daughter, E. J. They legally assumed the 
Koch name in 1893. Thus a good home was provided for them, and the 
boys grew up industrious and capable citizens, handling the duties of their 
father's farm for many years before his death. 

Mr. Koch built a nice house and barn on the corner of his farm for 
his son Frank, and built also another one like it on his farm three and a 
half miles southeast of the old home for the other son J. C. Koch. A. F. 
Koch married Eva R. Smith, and they have three children, Raymond H., 
Elva Marie and J. A. R., Jr. He does a large business in raising Holstein 
cattle, and his "Black and White Dairy Farm" is widely known. His dairy 
products are shipped to Champaign. 

The other son, J. C. Koch, has also inherited and is owner of a part 
of the Koch homestead in St. Joseph Township. He married Susie Alt, 
and their four children are Clifton A., Genevieve A., Frances A. and 
Clarence D. 

Nearly ten years before his own death Mr. Koch was called upon to 
mourn the passing of his beloved wife on December 3, 1907. She wa<? 
a woman of many virtues, kindly, sympathetic and charitable, and had 
been in sympathy with her husband in their love for orphan children. In 
fact so many fatherless and motherless and friendless found shelter in their 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 589 

home that it was often called "The Orphans' Home." The Koch home- 
stead was the abode of hospitality in the best sense of the word, and it ia 
said that no needy person ever applied for help there who went away empty 
handed. 

The late Mr. Koch was a public spirited citizen, and for thirty-six 
years served as a school director. He endeavored to secure the best of 
instruction for the children of the community. He was a personal friend 
of many of the best citizens of Champaign County, including the late 
Judge Cunningham and Colonel Busey. 

His name is especially associated with the Mayview Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, in which the funeral services were held preceding his inter- 
ment in Mount Olive Cemetery. He was instrumental in building that 
church and was for many years a trustee and a member of its building 
committee. Many of his old neighbors said that Mayview would never 
have another church when the old one passed out of use. Mr. Koch 
assumed individually the responsibility for getting the congregation in a 
new home, and when he first proposed building he was told that it might 
be possible to build a house of worship but it would always be burdened 
with a heavy debt. He himself headed a subscription paper with a gen- 
erous sum and then started around and found many loyal hearts to respond, 
so that as a result the church was dedicated not only free of debt but with 
more than $100 in the treasury. On the day of dedication the bishop who 
presided stated that never before in his experience had a country com- 
munity accomplished a building program so successfully. Today this 
church stands as a monument to the enterprise and liberality of the late 
Mr. Koch. 

DAVID BAILEY. In the latter part of 1854 or the early part of 1855 
Mr. Bailey moved to Monticello, Illinois. After a short sojourn there he 
came to tfrbana, and in March or April, 1856, moved to Champaign, where 
for a number of years, in connection with W. B. Bailey, he conducted a 
small country store in a frame building that he erected on the site now 
occupied by the Eobeson Department Store. 

David Bailey was one of the thirteen men who founded the First 
National Bank of Champaign, in 1865. Application for organization was 
made to the government in January, 1865, and certificate was issued in 
April, 1865. The thirteen men signing up were in the following order : 
J. S. Wright, J. H. Thomas, W. M. Way, Hamilton J. Jefferson, B. F. 
Harris, J. S. Beasley, David Bailey, Daniel Gardner, W. C. Barrett, Simeon 
H. Busey, S. P. Percival, J. G. Clark and A. E. Harmon. Each took 
fifty shares, making a capital of sixty-five thousand dollars. David Bailey 
disposed of his interest in the bank some time in the '70s. 

In 1882 he, with other men, founded the Champaign National Bank. 
The nine men signing the organization certificate and present at the 
organization were: Edward Bailey, 110 shares; Wm. S. Maxwell, 100 
shares; Jas. C. Miller, 150 shares; Bernard Kelley, 40 shares; David 
Bailey, 60 shares; Isaac S. Raymond, 10 shares; Geo. F. Beardsley, 10 
shares; Francis T. Walker, 10 shares; James B. McKinley, 10 shares. In 
this bank he held his holdings until his death. During his residence in 
Champaign, Mr. Bailey was several times elected a member of the Board 
of County Supervisors of Champaign County ; also served as school trustee. 
He was a public spirited citizen, contributed liberally, yet wisely, to every 
worthy enterprise, whether secular or religious. His giving was not osten- 
tatious, but it may be said that among his gifts was a lot now occupied by 
the Baptist parsonage, he being a member of that society, and the ground 
now occupied by the city building. 

25 



590 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. Bailey gave up his residence in Champaign about 1877, and after 
traveling for a season, finally located in St. Joseph, 1 Missouri, where he 
remained until after the death of his wife in 1879. Subsequently he lived 
for a short time in New York City, and then returned to the home of his 
boyhood in New Hampshire, where he spent most of his time, though 
frequently visiting his old home and friends in Champaign. 

On the 22nd day of March, 1882, he married Miss Harriet Hazelton, 
of Methuen, Massachusetts. Two weeks later he followed her remains to 
the tomb. He was then married to his third wife, November 1, 1886, she 
being Mrs. Mary B. Ewings, who survives him. 

In Champaign, in 1897, he had erected a new residence on the site 
occupied by the old home into which he had moved in 1856. The new 
home had just been completed and occupied by him when he was called 
from this life December 17, 1897, it being his intention to spend the closing 
days of his life in the city to which he had contributed so much toward the 
upbuilding. 

Mr. Bailey was a man of magnificent physical presence, and it may be 
truly said that he carried within his breast a soul worthy of so splendid a 
habitation. He sought no man's praise, satisfied to have the approval of 
his own conscience, and he was immovable in his adherence to justice and 
right. Once his duty was made plain, nothing could swerve him from it. 
Yet under a stern exterior beat a great, big, kind heart, as those who 
knew him best can testify. 

He was a manly man, and that means much. His character was 
developed in pioneer days, and while his early opportunity for acquiring 
an education was very limited, yet by extensive reading, observation and 
travel, he became a well informed and polished gentleman. The life and 
labors of such as he have made possible the greatest comfort and beauty 
in the world at present. His heart beat warm for the oppressed and dis- 
tressed, and his purse opened probably with as great frequency as any 
other in Champaign to alleviate the suffering of his fellowmen. Yet it 
was done so modestly that only in rare instances did any but the beneficiary 
know of his beneficence. 

David Bailey was born in Salem, Eockingham County, New Hampshire, 
August 2, 1814, of poor yet honest parents. His father was a farmer 
and a shoemaker. There were nine children in this New England home 
three sons and six daughters. The children attended district school about 
three months in the winter season. David had no further scholastic, train- 
ing. When a boy of twelve years he was put out to work for a neighbor 
to help lift a debt that was pressing his father. 

After spending a number of years on a farm, the subject of this 
sketch entered a country store at Haverhill, Massachusetts, as a clerk, but 
did not long remain there on account of poor health. He soon drifted to 
Boston, or, rather, to Charleston, just across the Charles Eiver from Boston, 
where for a time he occupied a position as clerk in the state penitentiary. 

Late in the '30s he decided to come West, and came to Danville, 
Illinois, making the trip by canal and stage coach. At Danville he secured 
a clerkship in a general country store. While there he became acquainted 
with Miss Hannah Finley, to whom he was married on February 9, 1841, 
and to this union were born five children, three sons, who survived their 
father, namely, Edward, David and Ozias, and two daughters, Abiah, who 
was the oldest of the family and died in early childhood, and Susan Bailey 
Slayden, who died at Waco, Texas, some years before her father. 

After spending some time in Danville, Mr. Bailey went to Bloomfield, 
Edgar County, Illinois. There he accepted a position on salary, but later, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 591 

having saved a little money, he formed a partnership with his brother 
Ozias (who had recently come West) under the firm name of 0. & D. 
Bailey. 

The Bailey peddling wagon soon became well known throughout the 
section between the Wabash and Sangamon rivers. The brothers also 
operated a small pork packing establishment at Clinton, Indiana, shipping 
their product by flat boat to New Orleans. 

While on one of these trips Mr. Bailey first met Abraham Lincoln, also 
J. S. Wright, who was afterwards the first cashier of the First National 
Bank of Champaign. 

CAPTAIN EDWARD BAILEY is president of the Champaign National 
Bank, an institution which has become noted as one of the most conserva- 
tive in the United States and as a leader among the great banking institu- 
tions of Illinois. He was one of its founders. 

He was born at Bloomfield, Edgar County, Illinois, September 8, 1843, 
a son of David and Hannah (Finley) Bailey, concerning whom mention 
is made on other pages. His early education was obtained in subscription 
schools at Bloomfield. 

In the last part of 1854 or early in 1855 his parents moved to Monti- 
cello, Illinois, thence to Urbana, Illinois, and in the spring of 1856 to 
Champaign, where he attended the public schools. In 1858 and 1859 he 
was a student at Atkinson Academy, Atkinson, New Hampshire. In the 
fall of 1860 he entered Douglas University in Chicago. This was the 
nucleus of the old Chicago University, which still later was founded and 
chartered as the University of Chicago. 

When the Civil War broke out in 1861 an independent military 
company was formed in this school. As a member of that company 
Edward Bailey learned the regulation drill and became very proficient 
therein. When Stephen A. Douglas died this company had the position of 
honor in the funeral procession and at the grave. 

In 1862 he enlisted in Company K, Sixty-seventh Illinois Volunteer 
Infantry, and was elected first lieutenant by the company. After serving 
out that enlistment he returned home and at the request of his parents 
attended commercial school. He also clerked in a dry goods store owned 
by his father and W. B. Bailey. In 1864 Edward Bailey enlisted in his 
country's service again, this time as a member of Company B, One Hun- 
dred Thirty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. The company elected him 
captain, and in that capacity he served out the enlistment. 

At the conclusion of his army service he clerked in a dry goods store 
in Champaign and later held a similar position at Eidgefarm, Vermilion 
County. Afterwards he was clerk for the firm of Eichards & Brother 
in Champaign, in which business he had a small interest. 

In 1868 he was married to Josephine S. Eichards, who had come to 
Champaign with her parents from the State of Maine. To this union 
three children were born : Fred Sumner Bailey, who is vice president of 
the Champaign National Bank; Josephine Belle Bailey; and Ange Bailey. 

In the fall of 1879 Mr. Bailey, Mr. W. S. Maxwell and Mr. James C. 
Miller organized the private banking company of Bailey, Maxwell & 
Miller. In 1882 they applied for authority to organize the Champaign 
National Bank, with capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. In this they 
were joined by six other stockholders, all of whom were present at the 
organization of the bank. A board of directors was elected and when 
the board organized Edward Bailey was elected president and has been 
president ever since, a period of thirty-five years, making him one of the 
senior bank presidents in the state. 



592 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

L. FORNEY WINGARD is a successful lawyer at Champaign, has been in 
active practice over fifteen years, and besides his accumulation of profes- 
sional interests he has identified himself in a public spirited way with the 
work of the community. 

His family have lived in Champaign County for a great many years. 
Mr. Wingard was born at Champaign June 3, 1875, a son of Benjamin F. 
and Mary C. (Forney) Wingard. His father was born in Indiana, son of 
David Wingard, who came to Champaign County in 1859. Both the 
father and grandfather were in the jewelry business at Champaign. Mr. 
Wingard's mother was born in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, and is still living 
in Champaign County. There were three children: Anna, at home with 
her parents ; L. Forney ; and Eoy, a traveling salesman. 

L. Forney Wingard was graduated in 1893 from the Champaign High 
School, and then took the regular academic course in the University of 
Illinois, where he graduated A. B. in 1898. For his law course he entered 
the Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, and began active 
practice in 1901. He is director and assistant attorney of the First State 
Trust and Banking Company at Urbana, Illinois. 

For seven years Mr. Wingard served as secretary of the Champaign 
Board of Education. In 1915 he was elected alderman from the fifth ward, 
and was one of the last board of aldermen until the commission form of 
government was put into effect. Mr. Wingard, who is unmarried, is affil- 
iated with the Masonic Order, being a Knight Templar and Shriner, a 
member of the Sons of Veterans through his father's service as a Union 
soldier, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

WILLIAM STONESTHEET, who for for many years was identified with the 
agricultural enterprise of Kerr Township, was head of one of the most 
industrious and honored families in that section of Champaign County, and 
the name is one that is spoken with the greatest respect and esteem, due 
to the many worthy virtues manifest in their "home and lives. 

Mr. Stonestreet was a native of 'Kerr Township, a son of Adam and 
Nancy (Stonestreet) Stonestreet. His parents were both natives of West 
Virginia and were among the pioneer settlers of Champaign County, arriv- 
ing in 1853. 

The late William Stonestreet married Mary E. Clifton. She was born 
in Champaign County, next to the youngest in a family of eight children 
of Jackson and Jane (Allsop) Clifton. Mrs. Stonestreet was educated in 
district school No. 9, the Obenchain schoolhouse. 

After their marriage Mr. Stonestreet began his career on land belong- 
ing to his mother, and which he subsequently inherited. He and his wife 
had industry and enthusiasm and gradually their efforts were crowned with 
pleasing success. 

Into their home were born six children, two of whom died in infancy. 
The other four are named Andrew Adam, Ira Elmer, Emma Jane and 
Charles Gilbert. The children have received the best of advantages in the 
local schools, known as the Stonestreet school, while Gilbert is now a 
student in the high school at Penfield. Miss Emma took besides her lit- 
erary instruction piano lessons from Miss Alice Gordon. 

It was after a career of years of strenuous and successful labor that 
Mr. Stonestreet passed away August 27, 1909, after a brief illness. He 
was a man who commanded and enjoyed the high respect of the com- 
munity wherein he long resided and was an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. After his death Mrs. Stonestreet, left alone, continued 
the responsibilities of the old farm, and has shown unusual executive 
ability in the management of the farm as well as the home. She has 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 593 

devoted herself to the rearing of her children and already sees the fruits 
of her instruction and the lessons she has endeavored to impress upon 
them. Her older sons have already assumed the management of the farm 
and the well kept condition of the place indicates their ability and industry. 
Since the death of her husband Mrs. Stonestreet has been able to buy forty 
acres additional land and now has a very complete and well equipped farm 
of eighty acres, worked by her sons. The family also farm 120 acres of 
rented land. Mrs. Stonestreet believes in enjoying the good tilings of life 
and owns a car in which she and her family find much recreation in tours 
about the county and in visiting their many friends. Mrs. Stonestreet 
deserves the greatest credit for what she has accomplished. She bravely 
faced the duties of life and has proved herself one of the noblest of Amer- 
ican women. Politically she is a stanch Eepublican, having grown up in 
the atmosphere of that party. She is active as a member and supporter of 
the Penfield Methrfdist Episcopal Church and her children are attendants 
of the Sunday school. Each year finds her in greater comfort, since her 
sons and her daughter are gradually relieving her of many of the heavy 
responsibilities in connection with the farm. Her daughter Miss Emma 
is a cultured girl who does much to assist in the home work. Her sons, 
as they grow to manhood, have manifested a lively interest in home duties 
and have proved a comfort to their mother and a credit to themselves and 
the community. 

ENGLISH BROTHERS. Former students of the University of Illinois, 
where both were thoroughly trained in the technical branches of their 
profession, the English Brothers, Eichard Caleb and Edward Carey, Jr., 
have for the past sixteen years been general contractors and structural 
engineers at Champaign, with offices in the Lincoln Building, they have 
developed a splendid prestige and reputation and their clientage constitutes 
a business that is one of the largest and most valuable of its kind in this 
section of the state. 

Of the two brothers Eichard Caleb English, the older, was born March 
1, 1873, at Jonesboro in Union County, Illinois, while Edward Carey, Jr., 
was born November 19, 1876, at Anna, in Union County, Illinois. Their 
parents were Edward Carey and Marga Ann (Hartline) English, the 
former a native of St. Johns, Newfoundland, and the latter of Union 
County, Illinois. Both parents are now deceased. The Hartline family 
came from Eowan County, North Carolina, and have been residents of the 
State of Illinois since 1798. 

It was in 1898 that the English brothers came to Champaign County 
as students in the University of Illinois. Edward C. was graduated in 
1902. In the previous year they had engaged in business together as 
general contractors and builders, and with maturing experience they have 
extended their work to cover a large field and they have an immense 
amount of capital and equipment and a perfected organization for carrying 
out the most involved contract of construction. Both are practical 
engineers and have fully deserved their success. 

Politically they are active democrats and in fraternal affairs are 
members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of 
Columbus, the Country Club and the Eotary Club. They and their families 
are members of the Holy Cross Catholic Church. Eichard C. English 
married Miss Agnes M. Hughes, a native of Deland, Illinois. Their three 
children are Mary, Richard and Edward. Edward C. English married 
Harriet Whitney Aylmer, a native of St. Louis. They also have three 
children, Edward, Aylmer and Susan. 

One of the most important pieces of work recently completed by English 



594 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Brothers is the Aviation Field, Bantoul, Illinois. This contract for the 
United States of America was taken May 28, 1917, and completed in six 
weeks at a total expenditure of $750,000. In the words of Howard Coffin, 
chairman of the National Board of Production of the United States of 
America Aviation Board, "In the erection and completion of Chanute 
Field, Eantoul, Illinois, all records in government contracts have been 
broken." 

EDWARD V. MORE. Of the families of Champaign County whose indus- 
try and activities of life have contributed materially to the prosperity and 
upbuilding of the community one of the most highly respected is that 
which bears the name of More, and which has a worthy representative in 
Edward V. More of Eantoul. Mr. More, who is engaged in the fire insur- 
ance business at this time and whose energies have taken him into other 
fields of endeavor during a long and uniformly successful career, was born 
in St. Joseph County, Michigan, and is a son of James R. and Louisa M. 
(Lee) More, natives of the county of Delaware, New York. The paternal 
grandfather was Henry More, a native of the Empire State. 

The More family is of sound and honorable English stock, but traces 
its ancestors back for a number of generations in this country, where its 
members have been conspicuous in numerous lines of human effort. One of 
the prominent family connections was Colonel James Fry, the following 
facts regarding whom have been taken from the archives of the State of 
Massachusetts : In a list of the men chosen for the expedition against 
Crown Point, April 15, 1756, agreeable to the order of his excellency 
William Shirley, Esq., was Colonel James Fry of Andover, who was engaged 
April 19, 1775. It was reported in the Provincial Congress, May 20, 1775, 
that commissions be issued to officers of Colonel Fry's regiment, and that 
Colonel Fry receive orders to make a disposition of his forces about Bos- 
ton, dividing the army into three divisions, consisting of two brigades each, 
and forming a brigade in General Putnam's division. Colonel Fry was 
also among the minute men who marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, 
from Andover to Cambridge. Colonel Fry was born at Andover, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1710; died January 8, 1776; married, November 20, 1734, 
Elizabeth Osgood. Their daughter, Joanna Fry, born in 1737, died 1767, 
married Thomas Farrington. Their son, March Farrington, had a daugh- 
ter, Betsey Ann, who married Henry More, Jr., and their son was James R. 
More. 

James R. More was born at Delhi, New York, May 17, 1829, and was 
married October 26, 1852, to Louisa M. Lee, their children being: Edward 
V. ; Ella Lee, who married John A. Pillars, had two children, Charles 
Adrian and Antoinette; Charles A. Pillars married Harriett Estes, and 
their daughter, Dorothy Lee, married William J. Taylor; Henry; Anna 
Helen, who is now Mrs. Tubbs ; Bessie F., who died in infancy ; Fred ; and 
Nellie Lee, now Mrs. Parr. James R. More in his vocations alternated 
between farming and school teaching and writing fire insurance. He was 
for many years an educator in Michigan and also followed that occu- 
pation after his migration to Illinois, where, in 1859 and 1860, at Rantoul, 
he taught school. He died March 28, 1916, after an honorable life, 
respected and esteemed by the community. Mrs. More, a loving parent, 
faithful wife and affectionate and loyal friend, "whom none knew her but 
to love her, none named her but to praise," entered into rest December 23, 
1912. 

Edward V., More was still a child when brought from his native place 
of Florence, St. Joseph County, Michigan, to Rantoul, Illinois. Here his 
father commenced teaching, and Edward V., a child of three years, was a 
privileged character in the schoolroom, where he would add to the amuse- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 595 

ment of the pupils by bringing his blocks and saying his letters. He was 
extraordinarily bright and progressive in his studies and in a few years 
could "spell down" the entire school, which he frequently did, thereby 
giving much pleasure to his parents, as well as to his aunt, Pauline More, 
who was also a teacher in the Eantoul school at that time. When he 
became a student in the Eantoul High School an event occurred that brought 
out the strong traits of character in the boy which, in later years, have 
been forcibly manifested in his various activities. At the time mentioned, 
the weather having become suddenly excessively hot, the students in the 
graduating class held a council and decided that the teacher should dismiss 
the school and accordingly called upon him with a demand that he do so. 
When he finally stated that he could not graduate the class unless they 
took another four weeks of study and the final examination, they delib- 
erately took their books and walked out of school. Not so with young 
More, however, although his fellow pupils -tried their utmost to win him 
to their way of thinking. He had just as strong ideas on the subject as 
they did and lived up to his determination to stay with his studies, and 
for four weeks longer pluckily remained at his desk, eventually passing his 
examination with credit. His teacher gave him his examination questions 
on slips of paper and he was required to answer them on the blackboard, 
which extended all around the room. He secured 100 in geography, 100 
in history, 98 in grammar, and proportionately good marks in his other 
studies. 

After his graduation Mr. More obtained employment with his uncle, 
J. A. Benedict, who conducted a general merchandise store and who proved 
a stanch and loyal friend, assisting and encouraging the youth and showing 
him numerous kindnesses that caused him to ever feel the greatest grati- 
tude in after years. He remained .with his uncle for ten years, or until 
the elder man's death, when he went into the United States Railway Mail 
Service on the Illinois Central between Chicago and Centralia, being thus 
employed for three years. Later he held a position in the great department 
store of Marshall Field & Company at Chicago, and subsequently in the 
office of the Santa Fe Railroad at Streator, Illinois, following which he 
went to Auburn, New York, and established himself in business as the 
proprietor of a photographic studio. Returning to Rantoul in 1892, Mr. 
More embarked in the fire insurance business with his father, a field in 
which he has met with a satisfying measure of success, being the representa- 
tive of several old-line companies and having built up an excellent business 
at Rantoul and throughout Champaign County. He is well known in busi- 
ness circles, where he has established a reputation for fidelity and integrity. 

Mr. More has always been public spirited and interested in those 
things which promote the well being of a community. As proof of the 
confidence of the public in his judgment and ability, it may be stated that 
he filled the office of village clerk in a most satisfying manner for thirteen 
years, and for several years was also police magistrate. Politically he had 
always been a Republican until 1912, when, tinder the leadership of Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, the great Progressive party movement was inaugurated, and 
Mr. More gave his support to the new organization. Fraternally he is affil- 
iated with the local lodge of the Masonic order, of which he is a past 
master. His religious affiliation is with the Episcopal Church. 

The More family has contributed in liberal manner to the history of 
Champaign County, possessing those admirable and sterling traits of 
character ever found in those whose deeds in life have helped brighten the 
way for others. The family has also given to the world some strong and 
talented characters, among them the noted sculptor, Charles Adrian Pillars, 
a nephew of Edward V. More, who is the only one ever having the honor 
of placing a marble statue in the Hall of Fame in the Capitol at Washing- 



596 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ton, District of Columbia, that of Dr. John W. Gorrie, M. D., which stands 
next to that of Frances E. Willard. The latter was chosen by the State of 
Illinois, and the former by the State of Florida. Gorrie was ttie inventor 
of artificial ice before the Civil War, and his invention was considered of 
such great value in alleviating the suffering of the thousands of victims of 
yellow fever that the State of Florida chose him as its representative, and 
Mr. Pillars was commissioned to make the statue. 

Edward V. More is the owner of a pleasant home at Rantoul, where he 
has the esteem of the community not only as a man who has led an honor- 
able and useful life, but as the representative of a family the characteris- 
tics of which have stood for straightforward dealing and honorable conduct 
in all of life's avenues of endeavor. 

ARTHUR SHERIDAN is one of the live and enterprising real estate men of 
Champaign, and has been broker and agent for some extensive blocks of 
central Illinois farm lands and has handled a number of important transac- 
tions in that field. He is also well known in local politics and is one of 
the citizens of Champaign who can be counted upon for effective exertion of 
public spirited service. 

Mr. Sheridan was born in Champaign, September 16, 1874, a son of 
Patrick and Catherine (Sullivan) Sheridan. His father was a native of 
County Mayo and his mother of County Cork, Ireland. Patrick Sheridan 
came to America about 1850, living in New York State for several years and 
in 1854 coming to Champaign County. He was long and successfully iden- 
tified with mercantile pursuits in this county and died here in November, 
1892. His widow survived him until March, 1894. They had seven chil- 
dren: John, Maria and William, all deceased; Anna, custodian of the 
State Home at Geneva, Illinois; Dominick and Elizabeth, deceased; and 
Arthur. 

Arthur Sheridan grew up in Champaign, attended St. Mary's Parochial 
School, but at the age of fifteen gave up his studies and books to earn his 
own living. For three years he worked on a farm, and for about four years 
was connected with McFadden & Company in the feed business. He subse- 
quently acquired interests in the livery business and in other local enter- 
prises, but since 1904 has devoted his principal time and attention to 
handling real estate, particularly Central Illinois lands. 

Mr. Sheridan is an active Democrat, was Seventh Precinct committee- 
man eight years, and secretary and treasurer of the county central com- 
mittee six years. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and is a member of the Catholic 
Church. 

On October 29, 1902, he was married to Miss Mayme Connelley of Spring- 
field, Illinois. They have no children. 

DALLAS SPRAGUE has for many years been a resident of Champaign 
County, and his fine farm and home are located in Compromise Township, 
in section 8. He is one of' the best known citizens of northeastern Cham- 
paign County and his own record and that of the family deserves a promi- 
nent position in this publication. 

Mr. Sprague is a native of West Virginia, born at Moundsville, on 
the Ohio Eiver, in Marshall County, twelve miles below the city of Wheeling. 
His parents, John J. and Jane (Hull) Sprague, were also natives of the 
same state. 

When Dallas Sprague was about twenty-seven years of age, having 
acquired his education in his native state, he came to Illinois to seek better 
opportunities and began farming in Grundy County. Soon afterward he 
met and married Suzan Severson. Mrs. Sprague has the industrious capa- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 597 

bility characteristic of her ancestry. She was born at Bergen, Norway, 
a daughter of Seward and Suzan Severson. She was reared and educated 
in her native country and at the age of twenty-six came with a number of 
young friends to America to find and utilize the splendid opportunities of 
this country. From New York she traveled by railroad to Chicago and 
from there to Morris, Illinois. Being an industrious young woman, she 
readily found employment and while thus engaged made the acquaintance 
of Mr. Dallas Sprague. This acquaintance ripened into an affection 
which brought about their marriage. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sprague continued to live in Grundy County for three 
years and then removed to Champaign County, which 'has been their home 
now for many years. They first rented a farm near Gifford, working it 
sixteen years and for another six years rented from Mr. Thomas McQuaid. 
While they were living on others' property Mr. and Mrs. Sprague not only 
made a comfortable living but were looking ahead to the future. Being 
naturally economical and thrifty, they finally acquired the capital with 
which they bought the 123 acres in their present farm, situated two miles 
southwest of Penfield. They have in many ways beautified and improved 
their farm, and have commodious buildings for all purposes and uses. 

Five children have been born to them, William, Sylvia, John, Bertha and 
Joe. Mr. and Mrs. Sprague have been very much concerned with the 
proper education and training of their children, and besides sending them 
to the district schools they gave them the advantages of the Penfield High 
School. Bertha graduated from the Penfield High School. William Sprague 
married Ida Otis, and their two children are Dallas and Florence Marjorie. 
The daughter Sylvia is now the wife of Thomas Harper and has two chil- 
dren, George and Suzan. Bertha Sprague married Harry Peterson and 
has a son, Lawrence. The sons John and Joe are still at home and assist 
their father in the management of the farm. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sprague are active members of the Baptist Church at 
Gifford. The Baptist faith has had the allegiance of the Sprague family 
for many years. In politics Mr. Sprague is generally a Democrat, but is 
a man of broad views and supports the principles and candidates rather 
than party. He is a strong advocate of temperance and will be one of 
tfiose who will readily support the amendment for nation-wide temperance 
when it is submitted in the State of Illinois. As one of the representative 
farmers he enjoys the confidence of the public and for thirty years has 
served as director of the public schools in his district and has also served 
as road commissioner. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and is a charter member of the Modern Wood- 
men of America at Gifford. Mr. and Mrs. Sprague maintain a most 
hospitable home and have endeared themselves to their community by 
their neighborly acts of kindness. Mrs. Sprague deserves much of the 
credit for the family well being and fortune, since she has stood beside her 
husband with counsel and assistance through all the years of their married 
life. With a family grown to manhood and womanhood Mr. and Mrs. 
Sprague are now living in comfort in their fine country seat in Compro- 
mise Township and express great loyalty to the county of Champaign, 
which has been their home for so many years. 

J. E. ESWOIJTHY, whose country home is on Rural Route No. 15 out 
of St. Joseph, has spent the greater part of his active life in Champaign 
County. He began here almost empty handed and that he now owns one 
of the larger and better improved farms of the county is a distinct tribute 
to his hard working industry and persistent efforts. 

Mr. Esworthy was born in Union County, Ohio, May 14, 1849, son of 
Thomas and Elizabeth (Good) Esworthy. His father was born in Mary- 



598 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

land, of which state the grandfather was also a native. The mother was 
a native of Pennsylvania. J. R. Esworthy was the second of five children. 
He acquired his early education in a country school near Nashport in 
Muskingum County, Ohio. From Muskingum County the family removed 
to Putnam County in northwestern Ohio, then to Missouri, and finally to 
Illinois, locating near Potomac. It was in that locality of Vermilion 
County that J. R. Esworthy came to manhood, having in the meantime 
completed his education in the public schools and having received a classical 
training as a farmer and husbandman from his father. 

At the age of twenty he took upon himself the responsibilities of a 
home maker by his marriage to Miss Serena Shoaf. Mrs. Esworthy was 
born in Indiana, daughter of David and Catherine Shoaf. The first year 
after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Esworthy spent at his father's home 
and the next year they rented a farm in Compromise Township in Cham- 
paign County. They possessed the energy and determination that are sure 
to bring success in the long run and from what they earned and saved as 
renters they were able to make the first payment on a small tract of 
twenty-three and a half acres in East Stantoii Township. They agreed to 
pay $10 an acre for this land. It was their home for fifteen years and 
during that time they steadily prospered. For two years they rented and 
lived on J. S. Kilbury's farm, and then moved to land which Mr. Esworthy 
bought in section 30 of Ogden Township. This tract consisted of 178 
acres, but had no improvements worthy of the name. Today that farm is 
one of the best in Ogden Township, and its improvements are the work 
and creation of Mr. Esworthy's labors and intelligent management. The 
farm has many fruit and shade trees which they set out, commodious build- 
ings, and altogether constitutes a country place which anyone might be glad 
to own. 

Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Esworthy, one of whom died 
in infancy. The others were James E., Sarah A., Lula M., C. D. and 
Maude M. They enjoyed while growing up the advantages of the local 
district schools, while Sarah was for ten terms a student in the deaf and 
dumb institution at Jacksonville, Illinois. 

The son James E. is now successfully engaged in farming east of 
Ogden on part of his father's land. He married Keturah Johnson and 
their seven children are Xora, John, Glen, Melvin, Raymond, Donald, Bur- 
ton. The daughter Sarah married Clarence Houston of Springfield, Illinois, 
and her two children are Clara Daisy and Xeta Marie Houston. Lula M. 
Esworthy married David Stayton, who died leaving one child, Jessie Ray, 
and for her second husband she married William Sallee of Lebanon, 
Indiana, now a farmer near Fithian, Illinois. Mrs. Sallee has one child, 
Earl. C. D. Esworthy is a prosperous young farmer living on his father's 
place in Ogden -Township. He first married Maud Bass, who died, leaving 
one child, Grace, and his second wife was Ora Valandingham. The daugh- 
ter Maud married Lewis Alexander, a farmer in Carroll County, Illinois. 
They have six children, Chester, Pearl, Ora, May, Earl and Lloyd. 

Besides the land which he acquired and developed many years ago 
Mr. Esworthy's success has brought him much additional holding and he is 
the owner of 384 acres. For many years he has been one of the noted 
stock raisers in eastern Champaign County, both cattle and hogs. Three 
times in one year his hogs topped the market at Indianapolis both in price 
and quality. One year he shipped a Poland China hog raised on his farm 
that weighed 960 pounds. The finest two-year-old heifer ever shipped 
from the market at St. Joseph was one raised on the Esworthy place. 

Mr. Esworthy's greatest sorrow was when death separated him from 
his beloved wife and the companion of his many years of struggle and 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 599 

increasing prosperity. Mrs. Esworthy died in March, 1916. She had 
endeared herself to the entire community by her kindliness and neighborli- 
ness, and as a home maker she shared the credit with her husband for the 
prosperity they enjoyed. For the past six years Mr. Esworthy's home has 
been brightened by his widowed daughter Sarah and her children. Sarah's 
husband was killed as a result of an accident at Springfield when he was 
struck by a street car. 

His fellow citizens have more than once shown confidence in Mr. 
Esworthy's public spirit and judgment, and for nine years he filled the 
office of school director and has always been a stalwart champion of the 
drainage system in his part of the county. He took the lead in advocating 
drainage long before there was any popular support for it. Through his 
work the first ditch was constructed, and while much opposition was 
encountered at first, many of those most determined against it are now 
thoroughly converted and have many times praised the work which Mr. 
Esworthy did as a pioneer in this direction. 

In matters of politics Mr. Esworthy lends his support to the principles 
of the Democratic party. He is an admirer of President Wilson, and 
especially of the wise and conservative policy which he has maintained in 
international relations and in the effective use of America's army and navy 
and economic resources to secure a just settlement of the world war on a 
basis of lasting peace and popular welfare. Mr. Esworthy has lived in 
close touch with progressive ideals, has made his own life a factor in 
progress, and can take a great deal of personal satisfaction in what he has 
done for himself and the community and what mankind generally has 
accomplished during the years that he has been a personal witness of the 
world's history. 

WILLIAM H. COFFMAN, justice of the peace, is one of the old timers of 
Champaign County, went from this locality into the War of the Rebellion, 
from which he returned a captain, and for more than half a century has been 
a farmer, business man and public official. Though his years now number 
fourscore, he is still looking after the duties of his office as justice of the 
peace and also handles considerable insurance. 

He was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, June 13, 1837, a son of Noah B. 
and Elizabeth (Lamb) Coffman. His father was a native of, Virginia and 
his mother of Ohio. Noah B. Coffman spent his life as a farmer. In 1852 
he removed with his family to Piatt County, Illinois, and on March 1, 1861, 
arrived in Champaign County, where he continued farming until his death 
in 1863. His widow died in 1872. Of their nine children William H. was 
the oldest. The others are : Aaron F., deceased ; Mary C., who has never 
married and lives at Champaign; David H. of Champaign; Lucinda F., 
Elizabeth and Peter J., all deceased; Samuel C. of Fullerton, Nebraska; 
and Thomas D. of Oakland, California. 

Judge Coffman was fifteen years of age when the family came to Illinois, 
and his education was acquired in district schools both in Ohio and in this 
state. He lived on the home place with his father until he was twenty-four 
years of age. He had managed the farm for his brothers and sisters until he 
was twenty-two and then farmed it on his own account for a couple of years. 

When his country needed him he did not hesitate to break home ties 
and business associations, and in September, 1861, he enlisted in Company I 
of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry at Champaign. He went out as a private, 
but on September 23d was promoted to sergeant ; on October 24, 1862, to 
second lieutenant ; on March 15, 1863, to first lieutenant, and on May 10, 
1864, was given his commission as captain. He was always in the same 
company, going out as private and coming back at its head. He was mus- 



600 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

tered out at San Antonio, Texas, and was given his final pay and discharge 
January 6, 1866, more than four years after his first enlistment. 

His record as a soldier is one in which he can take due pride and satis- 
faction, and hrs descendants after him will always cherish that part of his 
record. 

Captain Coffman returned to Champaign County from the war and 
began farming. He followed that actively until 1872, when he removed to 
Bondville and became a merchant. He also acted as agent for the Illinois 
Central Railway Company at that place. He was a business man at Bond- 
ville for eight years, and on selling out he returned to his farm. In 1893 
Captain Coffman gave up farming as his active vocation and removed to 
Champaign. In 1894 he was elected to the office of justice of the peace, and 
besides the duties of that office he at one time conducted an extensive real 
estate and insurance business. He has gradually given up real estate deal- 
ings and now only writes insurance and attends to his official duties. 

Captain Coffman has been a loyal Republican almost throughout the life 
of that party. He is an active and well known member of the Grand Army 
post and his church is the Methodist Episcopal. In February, 1868, he 
married Miss Margaret M. Allen, who was born in Hardin County, Ken- 
tucky, and died there April 30, 1909, after they had been married more 
than forty-one years. There were two children : Birch D. of Chicago ; and 
Jessie C., widow of George Gregg of Champaign County. 

MRS. JANE PATTON. To live beyond the age of ninety is in itself a 
distinction. But in the case of Mrs. Jane Patton, whose home is out in the 
country in Kerr Township, many more substantial things and associations 
are connected with her long life. She is one of the notable women of 
Champaign County. Children and grandchildren have a source of pride 
in referring to their relationship to this venerable woman whose life began 
so early in the nineteenth century and has never ceased to bear the fruit of 
good deeds and wholesome influences. 

Her maiden name was Jane Cade. She was born in Fountain County, 
Indiana, May 3, 1824, and has the distinction of having been the first 
white child born in that section of Indiana. Her parents were Mr. and 
Mrs. William Cade. They were honored pioneer settlers of Fountain 
County, and during the War of 1812 her father had fought in the Ameri- 
can army. He was long active in politics. She was born when James 
Monroe was still President of the United States. The Erie Canal was 
still in process of construction and not a single mile of railroad had been 
laid in the United States. Indiana was only eight years old and Illinois 
had been a state for six years. She was in her twenties before the Mexican 
War was fought and was well on toward the middle period of womanhood 
when the Civil War closed. Mrs. Patton grew up in her native county 
.and had to depend upon the meager opportunities of the district schools 
at a time when they were supported by the subscription plan and when 
there was no public system of education anywhere in the West. 

It was on December 10, 1844, that she married David Patton. They 
began their married life in Vermilion County, Illinois, where Mr. Patton 
acquired 480 acres of Government land. In time he came to be one of 
the largest land owners and most extensive farmers in eastern Illinois. 
At his death he owned 2,000 acres in F.ord, Champaign and adjoining 
counties, and his integrity of character and business judgment were 
respected and esteemed wherever known. David Patton was called to final 
rest February 29, 1880, more than thirty-seven years ago. Since her hus- 
band's death Mrs. Patton has continued to live on the old home farm in 
Kerr Township. While the early current of her existence took her through 
the rough experiences of pioneering, she has lived for many years in the 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 601 

quiet calm of peaceful surroundings and with inclination and opportunity 
for doing good to all around her. Mrs. Patton has distinguished herself 
for superior business and executive ability. She and her young husband 
started life with a splendid stock of energy, and it was their mutual labors 
and co-operation that brought such abundant prosperity to their hands. 

In the early days of her life in Illinois Mrs. Patton could look from 
the door of her humble home for miles out on the prairie. Not infre- 
quently she would see as many as twenty-five deer in a single drove. There 
were wild turkeys and abundance of every kind of game, nature having 
provided bountifully for the needs of the early pioneers while they were 
subduing the prairies and changing their productiveness to other forms. 
Mrs. Patton was constantly busy with the cares of her household and with 
the rearing and training of her children. She sent these children to the 
district schools, the Kuder, Flagg and Sugar Grove schools, and later 
afforded them every opportunity to get better training in colleges of differ- 
ent cities. 

The eight children of Mrs. Jane Patton were: William T., Samuel H., 
Martha, Lafayette, Charles D., Frank, Ida and Mary Allie. Martha 
married J. W. Flagg of Vermilion County. Charles D. died at the age 
of twenty-seven on February 23, 1884. Ida is the wife of C. A. Lamb 
of Ford County. Mary Allie has given many years to the profession of 
teaching. 

William T., the oldest child, was for many years a farmer on the home 
place and finally moved to Paxton, where he died in January, 1903. He 
married Fannie Flagg, and their children were Ada, David A., Charles D., 
Carrie and Elsie. Their daughter Ada is librarian at Champaign. 

Samuel H. Patton, the second son, died August 19, 1895. He married 
Grace Kirkley of Paxton. 

Martha, wife of J. W. Flagg of Paxton, has two children, David Eoss 
and William. 

Lafayette Patton, who is one of Champaign County's leading agricul- 
turists, occupies a farm adjoining that of his mother in Kerr Township, 
the two places being in sections 4 and 5. He married Ella McHenry. 
Their children are: Freddie, who died at the age of two years; Alfred 
Ray; Samuel H. ; Harry and Ruth. Alfred Ray, the oldest child of 
Lafayette Patton and grandson of Mrs. Jane Patton, was graduated from 
the law department of the University of Illinois in 1910 and is now an 
examining attorney for the Chicago Title and Trust Company and resides 
at Wheaton, Illinois, where he owns a half interest in the DuPage County 
Abstract and Title Company. Harry Patton, his brother, specialized his 
education in the School of Mines in Denver, Colorado, and enjoys the 
distinction of being the youngest supervisor in Champaign County, a 
bright, energetic young man whose popularity has won for him rapid 
advancement. He is now in the field artillery at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. 
Samuel H. Patton, the other son of Lafayette Patton, completed his educa- 
tion in the University of Michigan and while a student there met Opal E. 
Trott. He was a Kappa "Sigma fraternity man and she was a Delta 
Gamma sorority member. They were married at her home in Saginaw, 
Michigan. She was born at Buffalo, Ohio, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah 
(Spaid) Trott, also natives of Ohio. After their marriage Samuel H. 
Patton and bride went to New Mexico, where he held a position under the 
United States Government as civil engineer in the construction of the 
great Elephant Butte Dam, one of the greatest irrigation projects in the 
United States. He was afterwards a civil engineer in the employ of the 
Government in New York imder Secretary McAdoo and was subsequently 
sent by the Government to the island of Hayti, where he engaged in railroad 



602 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

construction. For three years he was a civil engineer engaged in locating 
railways in the Central American countries of Salvador and Guatemala. 
From there he returned to Champaign County and has since been success- 
fully identified with practical agriculture in partnership with his brother 
Harry on their father's estate of 700 acres. These two young men are 
fine types of educated and scientific agriculturists, young men of high 
principles and thoroughly capable of making a success in their chosen 
vocation. Ruth Patton, the daughter of Lafayette Patton, was educated 
in the Illinois Woman's College at Jacksonville, and after graduating there 
entered the University of Chicago, where she took special work in domestic 
science and art. She is a cultured young woman and at present is living 
at home and assisting in the management of the home. 

Frank Patton, the other son of Mrs. Jane Patton, is now deceased. He 
married Okie Mendenhall. Ida Patton, who married C. A. Lamb and has 
her home at Champaign, Is the mother of the following children : Nellie 
Ely, Charles Augustus, Jr., Allie Bie, Edith Jane and Hallie Eunice. The 
children were all liberally educated in the University of Illinois. Nellie B. 
Lamb is an instructor at Breckenridge, Minnesota. Charles Augustus, Jr., 
is bookkeeper and assistant manager of Lloyd's University Store at Cham- 
paign. Allie Bie is filing clerk in the registrar's office at the University 
of Illinois. Edith Jane graduated from the University of Illinois in 1916, 
and during the following year was in the State University of California 
at Berkeley, and in May, 1917, returned to Illinois with her master's degree. 
For two years she had taught English in the high school at Martinsville, 
Illinois. Hallie E. Lamb is pursuing the classical course in the University 
of Illinois. 

Thus nearly all of Mrs. Jane Patton's grandchildren have had college 
and other liberal training and are young people whose attainments and 
character are properly a matter of pride to their grandmother. 

Mrs. Jane Patton has always .shown a great ability to accomplish things. 
Her life has been an exceedingly practical one, busy and filled with useful- 
ness. While devoted to her home and children and grandchildren, she has 
shown an active interest in public affairs and in many subjects that do not 
claim the attention of most people. A few years ago she found time to 
write a pleasing book of memoirs, including the genealogy of her family 
and also the story of her own life and experiences in early days. This is a 
contribution to real history and when the book was published she afforded 
a delightful surprise to her family and many old neighbors and friends by 
having delivered 104 copies to as many homes, not only in Champaign 
County, but in widely scattered communities of the United States. 

Mrs. Patton proved herself a most loyal friend of the soldiers who went 
to the front during the period of the Civil War. Some of the surviving 
veterans of that struggle have again and again referred to their gratitude 
to Mrs. Patton for her kind deeds and her loyalty. Since she was sixteen 
years of age she has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. In 1914 she was instrumental in the building of a fine little 
chapel of the church, costing $4,000, and half of which sum was contrib- 
uted by herself. She also bought and presented to the church society the 
site occupied by the edifice, which is destined for years to be a center of 
religious worship in that community and stands as a monument to her lib- 
erality and generosity. It is now more than seventy years since Mrs. 
Patton was married and started out a brave and loyal young woman beside 
her husband in their mutual task of carving a home and fulfilling their 
duties and responsibilities. She has gained a crown of glory by her deeds 
and her ministrations to others, and now at the age of ninety-three is 
taking a well earned rest, and peace and serenity are the companions and 
attendants of her last days. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 603 

JOHN CECIL SOMERS is one of the youngest bankers of Champaign, and 
his career and experience have been worked out in one-institution. 

When he was seventeen years of age he entered the Commercial Bank 
of Champaign, and by doing the duties which lay nearest and making himself 
generally useful to his superiors and to the bank's best interests he was pro- 
moted through clerkships until he now has entire administrative manage- 
ment of the bank and is one of its stockholders. 

Mr. Somers was born at St. Joseph, Illinois, January 26, 1887, and is 
barely thirty years of age. His father, John W. Somers, was born and 
reared in Somers Township of Champaign County and died at St. Joseph in 
1906. He was a Republican and a member of the Methodist Church. His 
father, Waitman T. Somers, was a native of Virginia and an early settler in 
the farming districts of Champaign County. His wife was Mary Young. 
John W. Somers married Elizabeth Ann McDonald. 

John C. Somers received his early education in the St. Joseph High 
School and left that to enter the Commercial Bank at Champaign. He has 
devoted himself with singular fidelity to one line of business and that 
accounts for his early success. He is a Republican, without official aspira- 
tions, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and has attained 
the Knight Templar degrees in Masonry and is a member of the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks and the Champaign Country Club. 

On January 24, 1908, at Champaign, he married Miss Hazel C. Scott, 
who was born at Mahomet, Illinois, September 4, 1888. They have one son, 
Albert George, born September 24, 1912. 

J. W. REMLEY. The winning of a comfortable prosperity after many 
struggles with fortune and the establishment and provision for a home and 
place as an honored and influential citizen of his community is short meas- 
ure of the accomplishment of J. W. Remley, who for many years has been 
identified with Champaign County. 

Mr. Remley is proprietor of the Pleasant Vale Stock Farm in Har- 
wood Township, in section 14. He was born in Ross County, near Chilli- 
cothe, Ohio, a son of Alexander and Cutright Remley. His parents were 
also natives of Ohio. There were five children in the family and they 
were educated in district school No. 4 of Springfield Township in Ross 
County. 

When J. W. Remley was sixteen years of age, in March, 1875, his mother 
died and later his father married again. At the age of twenty-three J. W. 
Remley left home for Indiana. When he reached Indianapolis he was 
persuaded by his sister to come on to Champaign County, Illinois. When 
lie first came here it was with the intention of remaining only a year, but 
he became so well satisfied with the country that it took a hold upon him 
as. a permanent residence. 

Two years after coming to Champaign County Mr. Remley established 
a home of his own by his marriage to Miss Amelia A. Reynolds. She was 
born in Knox County, Illinois, five miles north of Oneida, daughter of 
Hanford and Antoinette (Roberts) Reynolds. Her father was a native of 
New York and her mother of Indiana. Her mother came to Illinois with 
her people at the age of eight years and was married in Knox County, 
and when Mrs. Remley was one year of age the family came to Champaign 
County. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Remley rented land four miles north 
of Gifford in Harwood Township. They remained five years on that place 
end while those were years of considerable self-denial and of struggles to 
make both ends meet, they were altogether extremely happy. At the end 
of five years Mf. and Mrs. Remley bought eighty acres, a portion of the 



604 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

land they had rented, comprising the northeast eighty of section 14. Mrs. 
Remley's father had bought this tract when she was one year old. Subse- 
quently Mrs. Bemley received as her share of the inheritance other land, so 
that the estate now comprises 200 acres, under the name Pleasant Vale 
Stock Farm. This name was given to the community by Mrs. Eemley's 
mother when she first settled here. 

As a stock farmer Mr. Eemley is widely known in Champaign County. 
He raises chiefly Percheron horses of French imported stock. He has had 
a large number of these splendid animals. 

Mr. and Mrs. Eemley are the parents of Hanford Alexander, Orizada 
Alice, Maple Almond and Minnie Melvina. One other son, Amasa Eoswell, 
died at the age of three years. These children were educated in the Pleas- 
ant Vale school. Orizada also took a four years' correspondence course 
from the institution at Kimberline Heights, Tennessee. Hanford A. Bern- 
ley married Anna Belle Bailey of Bantoul, and they have a bright young 
daughter, Esther Irene, now six years of age. Their home is two miles 
north of Eantoul on a farm. Orizada A. is an agriculturist east of Paxton, 
and married Allan J. Davis. They have two sons, Oscar Eemley and 
Herchel J. Maple A. Eemley married Laverna Eiblet, and they are .prac- 
tical .farmers on a portion of the Eemley estate. They have a young son 
named Devalson. Minnie M. Eemley married Allan Dennis, and they live 
at Oxford, Indiana. Their' three sons are named Mahlon Bay, Leon Allan 
and Orville Eoswell. 

Mr. and Mrs. Eemley are active members of the Mount Olivet Church 
of Christ, a country church in Ford County. In politics Mr. Bemley ren- 
ders support to the Bepublican party, and is thoroughly progressive in his 
attitude. He feels that politics and the law should keep pace with the other 
marvelous improvements in the world. He also believes that the best laws 
ever formulated for this country had their birth in the Eepublican party. 
In citizenship he has been honored with those positions of trust and respon- 
sibility that furnish large opportunities for service, and was for six years 
assessor, township school trustee six years, and school director twenty- 
seven years. He and his two sons are active members of Camp No. 1047 
of the Modern Woodmen of America at Gifford and he has been through 
all the chairs of that order. Mrs. Bemley is a member of the Eoyal 
Neighbors of America. Mr. and Mrs. Eemley have been closely identified 
with the life and times of Champaign County for many years. They have 
always kept a most hospitable home and are people implicitly trusted for 
their integrity and their high mindedness. 

Mrs. Eemley is a member of the Eeynolds Family Association. This 
association traces its ancestry back to the year 1634, when the first of the 
Beynolds family came to America from England. No one is eligible to 
membership in the association except those of the name who can prove 
that their ancestors came to this country before 1660. Mrs. Bemley's 
father was educated in New York, and was a successful teacher in that 
state and in Illinois and also was a practical surveyor and a most capable 
farmer and business man. During the last two years of his life he suffered 
impaired health and had his home with Mr. and Mrs. Eemley until his 
death, September 26, 1917. 

JOHN E. GALLIVAN is a native of Champaign County, but his name is 
widely known over this entire part of the state. He is now serving as 
deputy state fire inspector. 

Mr. Gallivan was born at Ivesdale, Champaign County, August 18, 1860, 
son of Patrick T. and Anne (Doyle) Gallivan, both natives of Ireland. His 
father was born in County Kerry and his mother in County Wexford. 
Patrick T. Gallivan at the age of fourteen came to this country with his 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 605 

parents, Thomas and Margaret (Ferriter) Gallivan, who first located in 
the East and gradually kept moving westward until they reached Michigan. 
Patrick Gallivan eventually came to Ivesdale, Champaign County, and at 
the age of fifteen was driving a team in railroad construction work in that 
locality. At the same time he used some of his leisure time at night to 
educate himself. He remained with the railroad work on the Great Western, 
now called the Wabash, until that line was constructed through to Danville. 
After that for four years he worked for the Wabash in the railroad yards 
at Danville, and was finally appointed foreman of the section at Ivesdale 
in Champaign County,' a position he held until 1867. In the meantime, 
hard working and thrifty as he was, he had invested his earnings in a 
240-acre farm in Champaign County, and in 1867 he was ready to occupy it 
and make it the principal source of his living. He continued farming on 
that place until 1890. when he retired to Ivesdale, where his death occurred 
March 25, 1912. This honored old timer was at different periods town- 
ship supervisor, member of the council and school treasurer. He was 
largely instrumental in settling the Catholic communities in Ivesdale and 
Colfax townships. At one time he was in the grain and elevator business 
in that community. His widow still lives at Ivesdale, at the age of eighty- 
two, and is in splendid physical health and in full possession of her mental 
faculties. There were eight children : John E. ; George of Ivesdale ; 
Margaret, wife of James E. Dugan of Indiana; Thomas J. of Urbana; 
Mary, wife of J. A. Fallen of Chatsworth, Illinois; Catherine L., who is 
unmarried and is an osteopath at Ivesdale ; Daniel of Salt Lake City, Utah ; 
and Anna, wife of Ora Curtis of Clinton, Indiana. 

The youth of John E. Gallivan was one of hard work and lack of oppor- 
tunities beyond those he could secure for himself. The first school he 
attended was in an attic in a log house in Ivesdale, and for three years he 
studied under James M. Graham, now congressman from the Springfield 
district. At the age of twenty-one he began railroad work and was employed 
in the train and yard service continuously for thirteen years. 

Having married and having the responsibilities of a family, Mr. Gallivan 
gave up railroading and engaged in the furniture and undertaking business 
at Ivesdale for six years. From Ivesdale he removed to Champaign, and 
developed a large and prosperous business as a real estate dealer. He han- 
dled real estate altogether for twelve years. For the past four years he has 
served as deputy state fire marshal and has charge of eighteen counties in 
the central part of Illinois. Mr. Gallivan is an active Democrat, a member 
of the Knights of Columbus and of St. Mary's Catholic Church. 

He married at Bloomington, April 28, 1886, Miss Alice M. Jones. They 
are the parents of seven children : Ann^ and George, now deceased ; Lillian, 
bookkeeper for the Twin Ice Company at Champaign, Illinois ; John and 
Thomas, twins, the former located at Indianapolis and the latter deceased ; 
Lyle, a student in the University of Illinois; and Milo, a student in St. 
Mary's High School. 

WILSON CONNER. One of the homes of Iverr Township to which special 
attention should be directed in this publication is that of Mr. and Mrs. 
Wilson Conner in section 28, near Penfield. Mr. Conner is a man of 
sterling worth and character, has lived in Champaign County the greater 
part of his active life, and has won for himself an enviable prominence as 
a farmer, public spirited citizen and a worker in behalf of every worthy 
cause. 

He was born in Ohio, a son of John and Mary Ellen (Riggleman) 
Conner, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Virginia. The 
father died when Wilson was a small child, and a little later the widowed 

26 s 



606 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

mother brought him to Champaign County, where he spent his boyhood 
and secured his education in the Kuder school. When he was ten years 
of age his mother died, leaving him an orphan, and he sorely missed her 
counsel and protecting care. 

He has thus made his way against the tide of circumstance from 
early years and did not have a home of his own until the age of twenty- 
nine, when he married Miss Alice Mantle. Mrs. Conner is a native of 
Champaign County, a daughter of Isaac and Mary (Kuder) Mantle. 
Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Conner moved to Vermilion 
County, Illinois, and began life on a rented farm. With youth, ambition 
and energy, the future stretched away in charming prospect, and they 
wisely improved their advantages and opportunities until they were able to 
return to Champaign County and buy 101 acres in Kerr Township. Mr. 
Conner paid $35 an acre for this land and today it is worth $175 an acre. 
Here his enterprise has proved productive and he and his good wife 
have the credit for practically making one of Champaign County's best 
farms. There were no buildings or other improvements on the land 
when they bought it, and successive years have witnessed the erection of 
commodious house and barn, the planting of fruit and shade trees, ajid the 
wise conservation and use of the soil. While general farming is the main 
business carried on, they have a fine orchard, including choice varieties of 
cherries, peaches and plums and a large amount of berry fruits. 

Into their home were born three children, one of whom died in infancy. 
The surviving daughter is Mary Ellen Gladys Conner. Both her grand- 
mothers had the name Mary. The son is McKinley Solomon, whose first 
name was for the illustrious President and the second for his uncle, Solo- 
mon Mantle. These children attended the Kuder school, Mary graduating 
from the eighth grade and receiving the honorary diploma for admission 
to the high school. Besides giving them the usual school advantages Mr. 
and Mrs. Conner have made musical instruction a feature of their culture. 
Mary spent several years under the instruction of Mrs. J. Kirkpatrick of 
Champaign. Both children have developed fine talent for music, McKinley 
having become a proficient performer on the violin. With his sister to 
accompany him the Conner home is never at a loss for special concerts 
and there is seldom a time in the work of the farm when music is neglected. 
Mr. and Mrs. Conner have wisely endeavored to give their children the 
benefit of a musical education, and that is a strong cord to bind their chil- 
dren to the home. Undoubtedly one of the great problems of country life 
might be solved if all parents were as liberal in affording advantages and 
entertainment to their children as Mr. and Mrs. Conner. 

Mr. and Mrs. Conner are members of the United Brethren Church of 
Penfield and the children are active in the Sunday school. The name 
bestowed upon the son indicates Mr. Conner's politics. He has been a 
steady supporter of the Eepublican party, and with his wife has endeavored 
to inculcate thorough American principles in their children. Several years 
Mr. Conner served as road commissioner. He and his wife have been true 
home makers in Champaign County and their lives have been a contributing 
factor to the progress and prosperity of this region. 

S. C. TUCKER, the present mayor of Champaign, has long been identified 
with Champaign in business affairs and in politics, is also a former 
mayor of the city and a former city treasurer, and is that type of man 
whose energy means something in the constructive administration of a city's 
affairs. 

Mr. Tucker was born in Saybrook, Illinois, January 9, 1871, a son 
of Sylvester and Sarah (McDaniel) Tucker. His father was a native of 
Ohio and his mother of Illinois. In 1882 the Tucker family removed to 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 607 

Champaign County, where Sylvester Tucker followed his trade as a car- 
penter until his death. They were the parents of eight children : Ollie of 
Champaign ; Ida, wife of C. W. Warner of Jackson, Mississippi ; W. G., who 
lives in Champaign and is an engineer with the Illinois Central Eailway; 
S. C. ; A. J. of Sheridan, Wyoming; Margaret, deceased; Charles J. of 
Champaign ; and L. E. of Champaign. 

S. C. Tucker was eleven years of age when his parents removed to Cham- 
paign County, and he finished his education in the local high school. He 
began his business career as clerk in a grocery store and later was with the 
firm of Maxwell & Mollet for about nine years. He then engaged in busi- 
ness for himself on East University Avenue and conducted one of the well 
stocked stores along that thoroughfa.re for five years. 

In the meantime he was elected city treasurer, an office he filled two 
years; from 1909 to 1911 he was the capable mayor of Champaign, being 
elected to that office on the Republican ticket. After Champaign adopted 
the commission form of government Mr. Tucker's name was prominently 
mentioned in connection with the office of mayor, and he was elected for 
that position. In 1903 Mr. Tucker removed to the corner of Church and 
Neil streets, where he conducted his place of business for fifteen years, and 
in June, 1917, moved to the opposite corner from where he had been located 
for so many years. 

He was married in October, 1897, to Miss Florence Ballentine, a native 
of Toledo, Ohio. She died June 4, 1915, leaving three children, all at home, 
named Marion, Claude and Creed. Mr. Tucker married for his present 
wife Mrs. Emma Collison, widow of Fred Collison of Rantoul, Illinois. Mrs. 
Tucker is an active member of the Christian Church, while Mr. Tucker is 
a Methodist. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World. 

JOHN E. GEHRT. Upon the success and welfare of the cultivators of 
the soil rests the true destiny of any nation. Nowhere does the agricultural 
element represent such qualities of business success and energy as in Cham- 
paign County, and one of the men who have claimed this county as their 
home and have gained unusual fruits from their effort is Mr. John Gehrt, 
whose home is in section 33 of Harwood Township. 

Mr. Gehrt is a native of Stark County, Illinois, a son of John M. and 
Catherine (Best) Gehrt. Both parents were born in Germany, came in 
early youth to America, where they married, and were pioneer farmers in 
Illinois. The father is still living, at the ripe age of eighty-three, in Stark 
County. His good wife entered into rest October 20, 1913. 

John E. Gehrt was one of their eight children. He grew up on his 
father's farm in Stark County and acquired a public school education there. 
On January 18, 1899, he married Miss Matilda Streitmatter, who was born 
in Peoria County, Illinois, a daughter of William F. and Mary (Munk) 
Streitmatter. Her parents were also natives of Germany, but were married 
in this country. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Gehrt began housekeeping on land 
owned by his father near Dillsburg. Mr. Gehrt has 233 acres there, and 
through his efficient management he has created a home which many city 
people might be proud to own. At an expense of $3,000 he has remodeled 
his house into a perfectly appointed residence, and has added many other 
improvements to the farm, including a large corn crib that cost $1,200 to 
build. The home has a complete water system, running hot and cold, 
heated by hot water, and a private electric light plant has been installed 
to furnish light. These conveniences, with the telephone and the rural 
free delivery, give the Gehrts practically all the advantages enjoyed by 



608 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

city people. Mr. Gehrt is a successful stock farmer and keeps a number 
of Polled Durham and Shorthorn cows and ships large quantities of cream. 
For a number of years his fields have averaged sixty bushels of corn to the 
acre. Mr. Gehrt owns a fine Buick car, and this is one of the chief sources 
of pleasure to the family. Both he and his son are thorough automobile 
mechanics and can repair as well as operate their car. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gehrt have two sons: Eollin L. and Arthur R. Both 
are studious and active boys and Rollin has completed the eighth grade of 
the common schools and has spent two years in the Rantoul High School. 
Mr. and Mrs. Gehrt are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
at Rantoul and both sons are members of the Sunday school there. Polit- 
ically Mr. Gehrt is a Republican and is a stanch believer in the great 
destiny of that party. He has served several years as director of the local 
schools and is always willing to lend a hand in forwarding all community 
improvements. 

EDWIN P. BABB. The Babb family came to Champaign County in 
1853. Five years later, at the home of his parents on a farm in North 
Ogden Township, Edwin P. Babb was born November 9, 1858. His life 
career has been one of commendable industry and accomplishment, has 
been liberally rewarded, and for a number of years he has lived retired in 
one of the comfortable city homes of Champaign. 

His parents were Milton and Elizabeth (Littler) Babb. Milton Babb 
was born in Grant County in what is now the state of West Virginia, grew 
up there, took up the occupation of farmer, and subsequently became a 
merchant. He owned a half interest in a large store in West Virginia, 
but on account of failing health removed to the west. Champaign County 
was still comparatively new and undeveloped when he located in North 
Ogden Township in 1853. Coming from the rough and semi-mountain- 
ous district of West Virginia he seemed to recognize the value of the rich 
land in Champaign County, and invested all the money he could secure in 
the farming district and kept purchasing new property until at the time of 
his death on January 22, 1868 ; he owned a thousand and fifty acres. He 
lived only long enough to accomplish part of the development of this land. 

In the early years the Babb family lived isolated compared with the 
modern facilities and conveniences of the country districts of Champaign 
Count}-. There were no telephones, no free delivery of mail, no pike roads, 
and the nearest postoffice to the Babb home was Danville, twenty-five miles 
away. Only at considerable intervals did a member of the family go there 
for the mail and other supplies. The nearest church was seventeen miles 
distant. Milton Babb was a very useful man in his community. He built 
the first schoolhouse in that section on his own land and paid for the build- 
ing out of his own pocket. Later, when the district school was formally 
organized and established, he was reimbursed for the expense of this school- 
house. Another incident that is recalled is his hiring a man at steady 
wages and furnishing him with a gun and ammunition to keep the deer 
out of his cornfields. That indicates how numerous the deer were at the 
time. Nearly every night the wolves howled about his doorstep. 

Elizabeth Littler Babb was born near Circleville, Ohio, .and lived to a 
good old age, passing away in 1910. She was the mother of four children; 
Edwin P., the oldest; Alice J., deceased; James E., a prominent corpora- 
tion attorney of Lewiston, Idaho ; and Charles I)., a banker at Homer, 
Illinois. The mother of these children married for her second husband 
James Yeazel. The two children of that union are Milton J., of Danville, 
and Frank, of the Province of Ontario, Canada. 

Edwin 1 J . Babb grew up in Champaign County, attended the district 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 609 

school near the old homestead, and at the age of twenty-one took charge 
of the home farm. He was only ten years of age when his father died and 
being the oldest son responsibilities were early thrust upon his shoulders 
in advance of his age. He continued the management of this farm until 
the property was divided among the heirs. He then engaged in farming 
on an extensive scale and made a specialty of raising Percheron horses and 
Shorthorn cattle. Mr. Babb still owns a fine farm, on which he keeps a 
tenant. In 1904 he removed to Champaign, and lived in a beautiful home 
at 401 Prospect Street. 

Mr. Babb married October 8, 1884, Miss Emma Conkey, who was born, 
at Homer, Champaign County. Her parents were Dr. William A. and 
Virginia (Sadler) Conkey. Her father, a native of Massachusetts, came 
to Champaign County when a boy. All the money he had was two dollars 
and a half, and he invested this in a town lot at Homer. He possessed 
a genius for versatile accomplishment and effort, and Was always able to 
adapt himself to circumstances. He took up the study of medicine, com- 
pleting his education at Louisville, Kentucky, and on returning to Cham- 
paign County practiced successfully for nine years. He also served as 
supervisor of his township and commissioner of highways. As his family 
grew up he bought a farm and was engaged in farming until his death. 
Dr. Conkey married on May 31, 1849, Virginia Sadler. She was born in 
Virginia, November 20, 1827, and her family were early settlers in Ver- 
milion County, Illinois, locating there in 1840. Dr. Conkey and wife had 
nine children: Aubert J., of Homer; Byron M., deceased; Francis, 
deceased; Lucy, wife of Mathew Spencer; Bruce T., deceased; Carl A., of 
Homer ; Emma, Mrs. Babb ; Frank M., of Homer ; and Fred B., of Howe, 
Indiana. Dr. Conkey died December 2, 1908, and his wife passed away 
March 4, 1904. 

In politics Mr. Babb is a Republican. He is affiliated with the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Champaign. He and his wife 
have had two children. Harry C., who was born January 17, 1886, lives 
at Champaign and is a traveling salesman. He married Lulu Goodman, 
and his three children are Dorothy Louise, born May 10, 1909 ; Harry C., 
who died at the age of eight months; and James Carlock, born April 29, 
1915. Mr. Babb's only daughter, Jennie Kate, born March 1, 1888, died 
February 3, 1893. 

C. MAXWELL CALDWELL. As a general electrical contractor C. Maxwell 
Cal dwell has more than made good in Champaign, and a few years ago he 
established his business in a two-story building which in point of equipment 
and service is without question the best small plant in the state, Chicago 
not excepted. He is in the general electrical contracting business and also 
handles supplies and does manufacturing in that line. It is the only busi- 
ness of the kind in central Illinois. 

Mr. Caldwell was born in Logan County, Illinois, September 7, 1879, a 
son of A. M. and Letitia (White) Caldwell. His father was born in New 
Holland in Logan County, Illinois, while his mother was a native of Ohio. 
In 1902 A. M. Caldwell removed to Champaign and for fifteen years he was 
live stock representative for the Chicago Live Stock World. He is now 
looking after a plantation of 3,000 acres in Arkansas, and is taking life 
somewhat leisurely. He and his wife have eight children : Grace, wife 
of Guy Stewart of Champaign ; Emma, wife of George Bates of Great Falls, 
Montana ; C. Maxwell ; Richard of Champaign ; B. John, who is associated 
with his brother in electrical contracting; Eva, also in business in her 
brother's firm ; Marie and Neil, both still at home with their parents. 

C. Maxwell Caldwell, preparatory to his active business career, had the 



610 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

advantage of training for three years in the University of Illinois. He then 
went on the road as a traveling salesman for the Chicago Live Stock World 
in the advertising department, and gave that up to establish his present 
business. 

Mr. Caldwell was married August 6, 1908, to Harriet Woodcock, a 
native of Champaign. They have two children : John Maxwell and Betty 
Jane. In politics Mr. Caldwell is independent. He is a member of Western 
Star Lodge No. 240, A. F. & A. M. ; Champaign Chapter No. 50, E. A. M. ; 
Champaign Commandery No. 68. K. T. ; Mohammed Temple, A. A. 0. N. 
M. S. ; is a member of Champaign Lodge, B. P. 0. E. ; a member of the 
Champaign Rotary Club, the Champaign County Country Club, the Cham- 
paign City Club, and a member of the Champaign Chamber of Commerce. 
He and his family worship in the Methodist Episcopal denomination. 

THOMAS McQuAio. Three generations of the McQuaid family have 
devoted their industry and their active years to the business of farming and 
the affairs of their community in Champaign County. The founder of the 
family here was Thomas McQuaid, Sr., now deceased, while Thomas, Jr., is 
owner of the old homestead in Compromise Township, but its chief respon- 
sibilities are now in the hands of his son John McQuaid. 

Thomas McQuaid was born at Rantoul, a son of Thomas and Catherine 
(Moiland) McQuaid. He was one of two children, his sister being Ellen. 
Thomas McQuaid, Jr., was educated in the Rantoul High School, and in 
1884 married Anastatia Gordon. She was born at Aurora in Kane County, 
Illinois, a daughter of John and Mary Gordon. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McQuaid located on the old McQuaid 
homestead and took the active management of the farm. His parents lived 
with them until they passed away. Thomas McQuaid, Sr., was a native of 
Ireland and came to America in 1848. He married in Michigan and on 
coming to Illinois bought 240 acres in Champaign County. He had all the 
characteristics of those worthy people who come from the land of the Sham- 
rock, and he earned his prosperity and left in his farm a splendid monument 
to his industry. It was Thomas McQuaid, Sr., and wife who set out the 
many trees which now make a complete grove around the homestead, and it 
is one of the finest tree plantations in the county. 

After the death of his parents Thomas McQuaid, Jr., continued to live on 
the farm, and the well kept fields show the character of his work as a hus- 
bandman. 

Mr. and Mrs. McQuaid had three children : .Catherine Agnes, Emily and 
John J. Death came into the home and removed both of the daughters, so 
that the only surviving child is John McQuaid. 

Mr. John McQuaid, one of the most progressive young farmers of Cham- 
paign County, began his education at Penfield, and in 1905 his parents 
moved to Champaign in order that he might have the very best training for 
the serious duties of life. In 1912 he graduated A. B. from the University 
of Illinois, and on leaving college he entered the service of the First 
National Bank of Champaign. He remained there three years and gained 
an experience invaluable to him for his future years. In 1916 he assumed 
active management of his father's farm, and both of them now spend their 
working hours on the farm but retain their home in Champaign. Mr. Thomas 
McQuaid is an active Democrat, and he and his family are members of the 
Catholic Church at Champaign. While they enjoy the comforts of a good 
town home, the old homestead is endeared to them by many associations 
and tender remembrances. Every visitor to this choice spot of Champaign 
County is attracted by the stately old trees, the broad, fertile fields, and the 
many evidences of successful cultivation and management. The farm con- 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 611 

sists of 560 acres, and in quality of soil it is not surpassed by any other 
similar tract of land in the state. The companionship of Mr. and Mrs. 
McQuaid has been one of rare felicity and a happy combination of talents 
and qualities that have made their years most happy and productive. 
Mr. John McQuaid, the son, though the only child of well-to-do parents, was 
not content merely to use the means which were so liberally supplied him. 
He made a splendid record as a student in the University of Illinois and has 
shown capability and wisdom in every business undertaking. He is a young 
man of exemplary and temperate habits, and his life has already justified the 
sanguine expectations of his family and friends. 

FRANK G. RUSSELL came to Champaign after an extensive business as 
a meat merchant both in local houses and on the road, and now enjoys high 
financial rating and a successful business as proprietor of the Chicago 
Market Company, dealers in meats and packing house products. Mr. Rus- 
sell was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, October 1, 1888, a son of William 
and Emma (Braiser) Russell. His father was born in Burlington, Iowa, 
and his mother at Terre Haute, Indiana. Both are now living at Danville, 
Illinois, where his father for many years has been in the sign business. 
There were three children : Louis, associated with his father at Danville ; 
Frank ; and Harry, who is in the employ of his brother at Champaign. 

Frank G. Russell was educated at Danville, and at the age of eighteen 
entered the American Bank & Trust Company at Danville, where for about 
three years he had a practical training in bank work and general business 
which has proved of inestimable value 'to him in subsequent years. From 
the Danville bank he went to Terre Haute and became assistant bookkeeper 
with Dowdall & Baker, wholesale meat dealers. He was with them two 
years in the offices and then about a year traveled on the road as their rep- 
resentative. This house eventually put him in charge of the market at 
Champaign, which he opened in 1912, and in 1915 he bought the business 
and continues to make a splendid success of it under his own management. 

In June, 1914, Mr. Russell married Nellie Ice, a native of Champaign. 
Mrs. Russell by a previous marriage had four children, Mariam, Madge, 
Helen and Dorothy. In politics Mr. Russell takes an independent attitude. 

JACOB MOUDY. The community of Ludlow in Champaign County pays 
special honor and respect to Jacob Moudy and his family. Mr. Moudy has 
had a long and active career. His years have been spent with benefit to 
himself and also to his family, friends and neighbors, and he has done 
something to make every community with which he has been identified a 
little better and to elevate the standards of life and morality. 

Mr. Moudy is a son of Peter and Elizabeth Moudy, both of whom were 
natives of Pennsylvania. In the early days they migrated from Penn- 
sylvania down the Ohio River, traveling on a flatboat to Cincinnati. Later 
they went still farther west to Illinois, making this journey in the old- 
fashioned prairie schooner. Peter and Elizabeth Moudy had eleven chil- 
dren, Jacob being next to the youngest. 

When Jacob Moudy was twenty-three years of age the war cloud arose 
over the land and he enlisted with the boys in blue and went to the front 
at Columbus, Kentucky, on the Mississippi River at Columbus Ford. Later 
his command was moved to the Little Obion River in Tennessee, and he 
was employed there chiefly in guard duty and in protecting railroads. 
With the close of his term he went to Chicago and was mustered out, but 
was still desirous of continuing his service to his country and sought to get 
enrolled in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois Regiment, where 
two of his cousins were fighting. He was unable to get enrolled because 



612 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

about that time he was taken with the fever. Returning home to Dan- 
ville, Illinois, he was married two years later to Miss Mary Villars. 

Mrs. Moudy is a daughter of Oliver and Mary Villars of Vermilion 
County, Illinois. Her Grandfather Villars was a native of Pennsylvania 
and her maternal Grandmother Timmens was a native of England. Oliver 
and Mary Villars migrated from Ohio to Illinois. Mrs. Moudy was a 
small child when her mother died, and she was reared in the home of her 
grandfather, who was a minister of the Gospel. She was carefully trained 
and given a wholesome equipment for the duties of life. 

After his marriage Jacob Moudy began housekeeping in Ford County, 
Illinois. His home was eight miles east of Paxton, where he was success- 
fully engaged in farming. A year later he sold his farm and removed to 
Chicago, and took up the trade of carpenter. He was employed by the 
Illinois Central Railway in the passenger department, a position secured 
for him through an old friend. While there he received a telegram to 
return home, as his brother was dangerously ill. After his brother's death, 
which soon followed, he yielded to the earnest wish of his father, whose 
feeble health unfitted him for work, and returning to Danville, took active 
control of the old homestead. Some years later Mr. Moudy returned to 
Ford County and resumed farming there, and with the exception of seven 
years' residence in Missouri he and his family have lived in Ford and 
Champaign counties to the present time. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Moudy were born eight children, four sons and four 
daughters. Their names are Luther, Oscar, Lisha, Lewis, Hannah, Leota, 
Dona and Cora. The children obtained their early education chiefly in 
the district schools of Ford County. Luther, who is a farmer with home 
at West Salem, is married and has two sons, Wilbur and Earl. Oscar, 
also a farmer at West Salem, married and has a daughter, Dorothy. Lisha, 
after the death of his wife, bought property near West Salem in order to 
afford better educational advantages to his son and daughter, Wayne E. 
and Mercedes. Lewis resides in Akron, Ohio, where he is employed in 
an automobile factory, and he has two children, Berdine and Herschel. 
Hannah is the wife of Ed Ketchum, a carpenter whose home is at Clarence, 
Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Ketchum have five children, Oscar, Mary, Milo, 
Allen and Clarence. Leota married Clarie Hupp, who is a grain merchant 
at Cullom, and their two children are Raymond and Marlin. Dona mar- 
ried Charles McHaley, a hardware merchant at Rankin. Their three chil- 
dren are Marvin, Opal and Laura Etta. Cora is the wife of Homer Funk- 
houser, a fanner near Penfield. Mr. and Mrs. Funkhouser have seven 
children named Merle, Doris, Eugene, Christine, Margaret, Lenore and 
Emery. Mr. and Mrs. Moudy are very proud of their children, their grand- 
children and especially of their great-grandchild, Emerson Shoemate. This 
great-grandchild is a son of Elmer and Mary (Ketchum) Shoemate, and 
a grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Ketchum, above mentioned. Mr. and Mrs. 
Shoemate reside at Ludlow and he is employed with the grain elevator 
there. 

Mr. and Mrs. Moudy deserve much credit for rearing and bringing 
their children to places of usefulness and honor in the world. Mr. Moudy 
in politics has always voted with the Democratic party. He takes pride 
in the fact that he supported William Jennings Bryan for the presidency 
three times, and with that great Nebraska commoner has always stood 
strongly for temperance principles. He believes that a joyful day awaits 
America when King Alcohol is dethroned. Mr. and Mrs. Moudy first 
united with the New Light Church and subsequently with the Christian 
denomination. They are able to take pardonable pride in their past, which 
they may review without regret. Mr. Moudy is now at an age when he 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 613 

may enjoy the leisure of well earned retirement and can feel that duty has 
been well performed. It is especially a satisfaction to know that in early 
life he marched away with the boys in blue carrying a gun for the protec- 
tion of his flag and Government, and in subsequent years he lived to see 
his country peaceful and united and growing and developing upon the 
sure foundation of unity and freedom. 

CHESTER W. LITTLE. One of the fine country homes which bespeak 
comfort and the enjoyment of the good things of life well earned is that of 
Mr. and Mrs. Chester W. Little, located four and a half miles southwest of 
Rantoul on one of the rural routes radiating from that city. 

Mr. Little has had a long and active career as an agriculturist and is still 
busy with his fields and his live stock, and has in his children most capable 
assistants both in the home and on the farm. Mr. Little was born at Collison 
Station in Vermilion County, Illinois, a son of John and Charlotte (Coon) 
Little, both of whom are now deceased. They were born in Ohio and came 
to Illinois in early youth. Their children were named Thomas, George, 
Samuel, Jane, Chester and Benjamin. These children grew up in Vermilion 
County and acquired an education in the Gray district schools. The sons 
were reared to the same profession as their father, that of agriculture, and 
all of them have demonstrated their capability. 

Chester W. Little married Elizabeth Thayer, who was born in Cham- 
paign County, one of the ten children of Milo and Mary (Wright) Thayer. 
Mrs. Little was educated in the Union Center district school. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Little started life on a place a mile 
and a half northeast of Thomasboro. Mr. Little owned eighty acres there, 
having earned that by his work as a wage earner in early life. The Little 
family moved when he was young to Champaign County, and he spent his 
boyhood in the early times of this section. When he was a boy very few of 
the pastures were fenced, and the neighbors followed the practice of driving 
their stock together, herding them on the prairie, the responsibility of 
herder usually falling upon some active and vigilant boy. Chester Little 
got his full experience of that work. Thus he spent many hours on the 
prairies alone with the stock, and while there he improved his opportunity 
to observe nature and also formulated that practical working philosophy 
which has stood him in good stead for all the subsequent trials and problems 
of life. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Little went to work with zeal and 
energy, and the passing years have abundantly rewarded them. Into their 
home came three children, one son and two daughters, Florence, Chester and 
Hazel. Mr. and Mrs. Little from the first took the greatest of pains to edu- 
cate these children for useful work in the world and as true types of Ameri- 
can citizens. The children attended the Union Center School and Florence 
and Chester both finished the eighth grade there and subsequently attended 
Brown's Business College at Champaign. The girls are still studying music, 
piano, at home. 

After selling his first place Mr. Little bought 200 acres southwest of 
Rantoul, and there the best work of his life has been done. He remodeled 
the house, built commodious barns and other outbuildings, has planted fruit 
and shade trees, and has made one of the attractive features of the landscape. 
Mr. and Mrs. Little have also accomplished the one thing that many farmers 
neglect, and that is making the home attractive to their children. Thus the 
young folks have of their own volition remained at home instead of seeking 
opportunities outside, and the family by their co-operation have demon- 
strated again the truth of the phrase, "In union there is strength." 

Politically Mr. Little has always been an ardent Republican, believing 



614 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

that the best laws and policies have emanated from that party. He is a man 
of public spirit, served on the school board a number of years, and has done 
all he could to obtain community institutions and improvements in line with 
advanced standards. There are many city homes that do not equal the 
Little place in point of facilities. They run the farm with improved 
machinery, have installed a complete water system around the house, having 
hot and cold running water within the home, and they also have two auto- 
mobiles in which to enjoy life and better carry out the business of farming. 
Thus for many years the lives of the Little family have been closely identified 
with Champaign County. The Little home is one noted for its hospitality 
and in the character of its members the family is one well entitled to the 
respect they enjoy. 

JOHN CLARK. It is a grateful distinction to have spent half a century 
in one community, and when those years were filled with worthy accom- 
plishment and with that old-fashioned spirit of loving kindness, such a 
career becomes one deserving of admiration and worthy of perpetuation in 
any history of a county in which it has been spent. The venerable John 
Clark, who died August 21, 1917, was a resident of Gifford. He came to 
Champaign County in 1868. He lived far beyond the fourscore mark, 
and his activities and those of the family have been a notable contribution 
to the upbuilding of Champaign County. 

He was a native of Scotland and when he brought his bride to this 
country it took fifty-two days to cross the ocean. Now only the space of a 
breath serves to bring us into touch with remote continents. Thus he wit- 
nessed and experienced that remarkable age of scientific achievement by 
which the world has been rewrought and made to respond to entirely new 
influences and new principles. 

John Clark was born in Forfarshire, Scotland, April 2, 1830, a son 
of William and Mary Clark, both natives of Scotland. There were four 
children. Thomas and Alexander are now deceased. Isabella is still 
living in her native land, the wife of David Freeman. John Clark grew 
up and acquired his early training in the habits of industry and frugality 
in Scotland, and there he laid the foundation of his own home by his mar- 
riage to Miss Jean Butters. She was born in Kirrmour, Scotland, Septem- 
ber 16, 1827. Two of her sisters continue to live in Dundee and a brother, 
David, in Australia. John Clark and wife were married at Glasgow, and 
the day following their marriage they turned their faces toward the New 
World and embarked on the Java, a 300-foot packet, sailing to New York. 
On arriving in that city John Clark found employment and worked for two 
years in a sugar factory. In 1855 he came west to Chicago and subse- 
quently lived at LaGrange, Illinois, until they removed to Champaign 
County in 1868. When they came to Chicago John Clark had only $6. 
Five dollars he paid for the rent of a house and thus they faced the world 
with brave hearts and courageous spirits but with only $1 in cash. 

To their marriage were born five children, one of whom died in Chicago 
and was buried there. The others were named Alexander, Robert B., 
John A. and Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the wife of Alfred Jenkinson. 

After coming to Champaign County John Clark through industry and 
economy was able to purchase eighty acres of land, paying $8 an acre. 
That land today is worth many times what he paid for it. Gradually his 
prosperity grew with the passing years, and Mr. Clark owned 320 acres 
in Illinois and also had 220 acres in Canada. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clark always used their means so as to promote their 
own comfort and happiness and the pleasure of those around them. In 
January, 1886, they returned to Scotland for a visit to the hills and 




MK. AND MRS. JOHX CLAEK 

Taken on Their Sixtieth Wedding Anniversary. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 615 

heather of their native land, and spent four months in the Old World. 
They sailed from New York on the steamer Oregon, which on its return 
trip sunk. How vastly improved transportation was in the interval which 
had passed since they first came to the New World was 'indicated by the 
fact that they were only nine days in going from Chicago to Dundee, 
Scotland. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clark instilled the principles of honesty and integrity in 
the character of their children and did all they could to prepare them for 
worthy citizens. They reared their sons as farmers, believing that the 
man who tills the soil can always face life independently. Their oldest 
son, Alexander, is a farmer two miles east of Gifford, located on his father's 
old homestead. He married Isabel Minnis, a native of Wisconsin, and 
their children are Jeanne, Emma, whose name at home has always been 
"Bonnie," John, Nellie, now deceased, and Robert. These children were 
educated at Penfield. Bonnie graduated from the high school there and 
was a successful teacher in Champaign County before her marriage to 
John Bryan. Mr. and Mrs. Bryan live at Wolcott, Indiana. John Clark, 
son of Alexander, married Inez Reynolds, and their child, John, became a 
great-grandchild of Mr. John Clark. Robert is now a student in the 
Gifford High School, and Jeanne lived with her grandfather at GifEord 
until his death. 

Robert Clark, the second son of John Clark, married Sarah Rupp, and 
they have a child, Edith. 

John A. Clark, the third son, married Dora Hummel, and their five 
daughters are named Lena, Julia, Dora, Rosella and Orvilla. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Clark lived to see Champaign County converted 
from almost a virgin district into one of the garden spots of the world. 
Along with the material success that rewarded his efforts Mr. John Clark 
found himself the repeated object of esteem on the part of his fellow citi- 
zens, who elected him road commissioner for fifteen years, and also school 
director. In politics he was first, last and always a Republican. He said : 
"We never find a Democrat a Scotchman." It was his opinion that the 
best principles of good government had their birth in the Republican party. 
Mr. Clark was long affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and the Knights of Pythias. He and his wife were very active members 
and liberal supporters of the Baptist Church at Gifford. 

The greatest sorrow of his life came on June 1, 1916, when his beloved 
wife and companion was claimed by death. Mrs. John Clark was a true 
mother in Israel. The affection of a large community was given her 
during her life and hundreds of sorrowing friends gathered to pay a last 
tribute of respect when she died. It could be said of her that none knew 
her but to love her and none named her but to praise. 

After the death of his wife Mr. Clark was comforted by the presence 
of his granddaughter, Jeanne Clark, who as housekeeper, counsellor, secre- 
tary and adviser, cherished him constantly as he faced the setting sun of 
life. It was a worthy career on which he could look back. He never shirked 
work or responsibilities, and his days were days of toil, of useful endeavor, 
and guided by a constant aim to live according to conscience and the 
divine revelations. 

On May 23, 1903, Mr. and Mrs. John Clark celebrated their golden 
wedding anniversary. Ten years later, in 1913, their sixtieth anniversary 
was celebrated. This was a notable occasion and 187 guests sat at the 
banquet which was served in the opera house. In the Clark home is 
a photograph of the assembled guests who gathered on his lawn at Gifford. 
Such occasions have a greater significance and value than many of the 
events which attract more newspaper publicity. 



616 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ELIZABETH CLARK JENKINSON, daughter of the late venerable John 
Clark of Gifford, whose career has been fully sketched in preceding pages, 
resides on one of the fine farming estates around Gifford and some special 
mention should be made of her family. 

She is the wife of Mr. Alfred Jenkinson, who was born at Lacon, Illi- 
nois, a son of Benjamin and Mary A. (Willy) Jenkinson. Benjamin 
Jenkinson was born in Yorkshire, England, and his wife in Leicestershire, 
England. They immigrated to America at an early day and were mar- 
ried at Lacon, Illinois, in 1857. Of their ten children Alfred was the 
oldest. The children all attended district schools in Marshall County, 
Illinois, and experienced the hardships incident to pioneer life. The Jenk- 
inson family lived in a log house, and their efforts served to reclaim a 
portion of Illinois soil to'cultivation. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Jenkinson began their 
wedded life on his father's estate half a mile north of Gifford. Here Mr. 
Jenkinson has found ample opportunities to prove his ability as a farmer 
and his business judgment has enabled him to acquire a farm of 200 acres. 

Their family consists of four children, Clemens J., Mary Isabel, Jessie 
Virginia and John Benjamin. The education and training of these chil- 
dren were a primary consideration of Mr. and Mrs. Jenkinson from the 
beginning. They sent them to the local district schools and also to the 
Gifford High School. John took a three years' high school course in 
Rantoul. The other three children are all graduates of the Gifford High 
School, while Jessie taught in her home school and also the Martin and 
teachers of Champaign County. Isabel taught two terms at the Weber 
School. The daughters Isabel and Jessie proved popular and successful 
Reynolds schools. 

Clemens J. Jenkinson married William Lohmiller, a farmer living on a 
place adjoining Mr. Jenkinson's. They have four children : Elizabeth J., 
Jessie Pauline, Mary Clemens and John Alfred. 

Mary Isabel Jenkinson married Harry Hamjlton, bookkeeper with a 
lumber firm at Hoopeston, Illinois. They have five children : Laura Eliza- 
beth, Harry Leland, Kenneth Franklin, Mary Isabel and Margaret Helen. 

John Benjamin Jenkinson, a railroad man living in Chicago, married 
Margaret Miller, and they have a child, Jean Clark, named after her great- 
grandmother. 

Jessie Virginia Jenkinson is the wife of George Corbley, a farmer living 
near Paxton, Illinois. They have one child, Virginia. 

Besides his success as a farmer Mr. Jenkinson has in many ways 
proved his public spirit as a factor in the community. He served as 
school director over twenty years, also as road commissioner and township 
treasurer. He is loyally identified with the Republican party, and he 
and his family attend the Baptist Church in Gifford. He is a member of 
the Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. Jenkinson takes an active part in 
local social affairs and is a member of the Social Science Club. 

JOHN A. CLARK. Among the numerous families of Champaign County 
whose activities have contributed materially to its upbuilding and the pro- 
motion of its best interests that of Clark stands prominent. 

Now living retired at Rantoul, Mr. John A. Clark spent the best years 
of his active career as a successful farmer, and he reared and liberally 
provided for his family through the fruits of his toil in the fields of this 
county. 

Mr. Clark is a son of John and Jean (Butters) Clark, both of whom 
were born and reared among the hills and heather of Scotland. John 
Clark's heart was won by a Scotch lassie and he succeeded in persuading 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 617 

her to change her name. The young people were possessed of character- 
istic energy and progressiveness, strong traits of the native Scotch. It 
was their ardent desire to cast their lot with the New World, concerning 
which they had heard wonderful stories. On the day following their wed- 
ding, when the festivities of the occasion were scarcely ended, John and 
Jane Clark started for America. The future was rainbowed with prom- 
ises, and seen through a rosy tint of bright anticipation they courageously 
undertook to carve out their own fortune. After landing in New York 
they lived there two years and then removed to Cook County, Illinois, and 
still later to Champaign County. From time to time children came into 
their home until the house echoed with the cheerful laughter of four bright 
Scotch-American girls and boys. They were named Alexander M., Robert 
B., John A. and Elizabeth W. Clark. 

John Clark, Sr., spent his life as a farmer and in time acquired a fine 
estate and a luxurious home, surrounded with productive land. He finally 
retired from active duties and removed to Gifford, where he entered into 
rest August 21, 1917, honored and esteemed. 

John A. Clark married Dora Hummel, daughter of Phillip and Cath- 
erine Hummel, both of whom are natives of Germany and came to America 
at an early day. This good couple were possessed of the usual German 
energy and thrift. The Hummel children were Phillip and Mary (born 
to the father's first union in Germany), Henry, Chris, Will, Mrs. Anna 
Roberts and Mrs. Dora Clark. 

John and Dora Clark began their wedded life on a farm near Penfield, 
Illinois, and in that section of Champaign County their industry and energy 
soon brought ample reward. Into their home were born five daughters and 
one son. The son died in infancy, but the disappointment of this loss 
was recompensed somewhat by the lives of the five daughters who grew to 
the flower of womanhood. These daughters are named Pauline, Julia, 
Dorothy, Rosilla and Orvilla. The daughters first attended the Stone 
Street district school, later the high school at Penfield, from which both 
Dorothy and Rosilla graduated with honors, the former in 1909 and the 
latter in 1911. Dorothy Clark, in order to fit herself for a position of 
usefulness, went to TJrbana and learned the dressmaking trade from Mrs. 
Maxfield and is now successfully engaged in that occupation. Mrs. Clark 
endeavored to rear her daughters as diligent and faithful home makers, 
and it has been her satisfaction to see the splendid proofs of her work in 
the efficiency with which these young people have gone about their duties. 
Pauline Clark married John Oehmke, a farmer near Penfield, and they 
have two children, Dorothy and Myron. Rosilla Clark married Lloyd 
Wise, and it is permitted to say that he was a wise man to secure such a 
worthy companion. He is a successful farmer, and they reside on the 
Clark estate at Penfield, where Mr. and Mrs. Clark had their home for 
thirty-five prosperous and happy years. Mr. and Mrs. Wise have a daugh- 
ter, Gwendolyn. The remaining three daughters, Julia, Dorothy and 
Orvilla, still reside with their parents. For seven years Dorothy lived 
with her Grandparents Clark at Gifford, where she attended high school. 

In politics John A. Clark has always been a stanch Republican. He 
and his brothers learned the principles of that political faith from their 
father in boyhood days. The strongest characteristic of his life aside from 
the hard sense he has employed in his business affairs is the public 
spirited attitude he has taken into his relations with the community. That 
he possesses the full confidence of his fellow citizens scarcely needs proof 
in a community where he has been known for so long. His counsel and 
advice have been sought frequently in the administration of public affairs. 
He served as school director, and whether officially or as a private citizen 



618 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

he has done all he could to promote the upbuilding of the local schools. 
He has also been road commissioner, township central committeeman for 
many years, and was township supervisor until he removed from his old 
neighborhood. His experiences and opinions have been helpful and have 
been appreciated. Mr. Clark is a true American, of that type which has 
colored and made glorious the annals of this country. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clark with their daughters are active members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church of Penfield. Fraternally he is affiliated with 
the Modern Woodmen of America, and both he and his wife are members 
of the Court of Honor. Formerly Mrs. Clark and daughters were Pythian 
Sisters. In 1917 Mr. and Mrs. Clark retired to Rantoul, where they have 
a pleasant home on Grove Avenue. They are still active, and the wisdom 
of experience enables them to enjoy these years even more abundantly than 
the past. They have contributed their share toward the enrichment of 
American life, have reared their daughters and trained them carefully for 
the emergencies and duties of the world, and it is not strange that they 
enjoy the esteem and admiration of a host of friends. 

PAUL J. STBAHLE is one of the yo'unger business men of Champaign, is 
active and aggressive, and has already acquired a secure position as a unit in 
the commercial community. 

A native of Champaign, he was born February 20, 1892, the only son 
and child of John G. and Catherine (Dawson) Strahle. His mother was 
born in England and died at Champaign, March 1, 1912. John G. Strahle 
is also a native of Champaign County, was for a number of years a tailor by 
trade, but is now associated with his son in business. 

Educated in the public schools of Champaign, Paul J. Strahle early 
evinced a strong inclination and tendency for mechanical pursuits and he 
served an apprenticeship which in itself constituted the equivalent of a 
technical university course. For a time he was in the engineering depart- 
ment of the Cadillac Company at Detroit, also with the Studebaker Com- 
pany, and from there removed to Dayton. Ohio, and had a thorough course 
of training in the engineering departments of the Delco plant. Mr. Strahle 
is an expert electrician and is master of practically every technical detail 
connected with the construction, assembling and repair of automobiles. In 
March, 1915, he engaged in business for himself at Champaign in electrical 
supplies and garage. He is now manager and proprietor of the Willard 
Service Station there. Mr. Strahle is unmarried. He is a Democrat in 
politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

JESSE MEHARRY. One of the largest farming estates in Champaign 
County is that of the Jesse Meharry family, now managed and operated 
by the sons of the late Jesse Meharry. Mr. Meharry was a notable figure 
in Champaign County affairs, not only as a land owner, farmer and stock- 
man, but as a public spirited citizen. 

He was born in Montgomery County, Indiana, October 9, 1835. He 
was of Scotch-Irish and Welsh extraction. Concerning his ancestry it is 
said that during the reign of "Bloody" Queen Mary his forefathers escaped 
by going to Ireland. After several generations some of the family located 
in Pennsylvania, near Connelsville. Later they moved to Adams County, 
Ohio. 

The parents of Jesse Meharry were Thomas and Eunity (Patton) 
Meharry. Thomas Meharry was born April 27, 1799, in Adams County, 
Ohio. Eunity Patton was born in Brown County, Ohio, August 16, 1802. 
They married in December, 1827. Soon after their marriage the young 
people moved to near Wingate, Indiana, in Montgomery County, where they 
lived the remainder of their lives. He was a man of splendid business 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 619 

ability and acquired a large amount of land not only in Indiana but in 
Illinois. Thomas Meharry died January 29, 1874. He was the father 
of seven children : Mrs. Jane P. Dick, William, Mrs. Ellen Martin, Jesse, 
Mrs. Polly A. McCorkle, Abraham P. and Isaac. 

Jesse Meharry was raised on his father's farm in Indiana, attended the 
local district school and spent two years at Asbury, now DePauw Uni- 
versity, at Greencastle, Indiana. He taught the local district school for 
two winters. He cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont in 
1856, and voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He remained loyal to the 
Republican party throughout his life. 

Jesse Meharry came to Champaign County in 1862, herded and fed 
cattle on the prairie between Mattoon and Rantoul for three years. In 
1865 he took up his permanent residence in Philo Township on a tract of 
land of 640 acres which was raw prairie. There he occupied himself in 
bringing his farm to a high state of cultivation and in feeding and raising 
live stock. In 1893 Mr. Meharry moved to Tolono, Illinois, where he held 
residence till his death. 

Mr. Meharry served his fellow citizens as supervisor of Philo Township 
for eleven years and was a commissioner of highways in Philo Township 
for several terms. He had been a member of the Republican County Cen- 
tral Committee since 1888, serving a longer term than any other member 
ever had served. 

On June 4, 1887, Mr. Meharry united with the Tolono Methodist 
Episcopal Church. He served over forty years on the official board and 
acted as Sunday School Superintendent for twenty-two years. He was 
a member of the building committee when the new church was erected. 

He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Wesleyan 
University, at Bloomington, Illinois, for the seven years prior to his death. 

On February 27, 1873, Mr. Meharry was married at New Lenox, Illinois, 
to Miss Addie A. Francis, the daughter of Abraham and Mary A. J. 
(Davison) Francis, and of this union the following children were born: 
Jesse Erie, George Francis, Edwin Thomas, and Paul Francis. 

Jesse Erie Meharry was born near Tolono, Illinois, December 31, 1876, 
and was graduated from the Tolono High School in 1895, and from the 
University of Illinois in 1899. He was married to Katharine I. Hay of 
Carmi, Illinois, September 22, 1916. He is a farmer and breeder of Poland 
China hogs, his herd being classed with the best six herds of Poland Chinas 
in the United States. 

George Francis Meharry, born at Tolono, Illinois, June 12, 1880, was 
graduated from the Tolono High School 1899, and from the University 
of Illinois 1905. He was married to Miss Sophie Mary Voss of Cham- 
paign, Illinois, February 27, 1912. He is engaged in farming. 

Edwin Thomas Meharry, born near Tolono, Illinois, November 30, 
1881, was graduated from the Tolono High School in 1900, and from the 
University of Illinois in 1906, and is a farmer by occupation. 

Paul Francis Meharry was born March 23, 1888, near Tolono, Illinois, 
was prepared in the Tolono High School and the University of Illinois 
Academy, and finished his education at the University of Illinois. He was 
married to Miss Stella Blanche Dougherty of Fairmount, Illinois, on 
February 3, 1914. He follows farming. 

LEO H. BIRELINE, one of the youngest business men of Champaign, is 
successfully engaged in the metal roofing business, an industry which he 
learned during his youth, his father being also connected with the same line 
of business. 

Mr. Bireline was born in Danville, Illinois, June 19, 1894, a son of 
Henry and Emma (Diehl) .Bireline, both of whom were also natives of 



620 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Danville. His parents are still living at Danville and his father conducts 
a roofing and sheet metal works in that city. There were five children in 
the family : Catherine Ellen, wife of W. A. Meek of Danville ; Robert, who 
is associated with his brother Leo in business at Champaign ; Leo ; Florence 
and Emily, both at home with their parents. 

Leo H. Bireline grew up in Danville, attended the city schools, spent two 
years in high school and finished his education in Brown's Business College 
at Danville. There he took a bookkeeping and general business course, and 
with that equipment and with the experience he had acquired under his 
father he came to Champaign to take charge of the local branch of the 
sheet metal and roofing business. This business in its subsequent growth 
now requires all his time and active attention. The headquarters of the 
business is a large building 25x125 feet, with ample facilities for a perfect 
service in their particular line. 

Mr. Bireline married Ruby Bodine, a native of Kingman, Indiana, but 
reared in Danville. They have one child, Margaret. Mr. Bireline is a 
Republican in politics, is a thirty-second degree and Consistory Mason, and 
is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. He and his family are members 
of the First Methodist Episcopal Church. 

PETER PETERSON. For many years the late Peter Peterson was a resi- 
dent of Champaign, was a quiet and industrious business man, acquired 
considerable property and made his name influential and honored in this 
community. 

A native of Sweden, Mr. Peterson was born in 1848. He was twenty-one 
years of age when he left his native land and came to America in 1869, soon 
afterward locating in the city of Champaign. He had received his educa- 
tion in Sweden and was well fitted for a life of activity. He engaged in 
the dray and transfer business at Champaign, and conducted that actively 
for nearly forty years. He was in the full vigor of his powers almost until 
the last, and his death occurred in Champaign in August, 1909. 

He was married in 1871, at Champaign, to Marian Christina Olson. 
She was born in Sweden and came to Champaign in 1870. Mrs. Peterson 
is still living, but an invalid and has lost the power of speech. She has one 
of the comfortable homes of Champaign, owns considerable property, and 
her constant attendant in her declining years is her daughter, Mrs. Sophie J. 
Parr. The only son of Mrs. Peterson, Charles J. Peterson, lives in Chicago, 
Illinois. 

Mrs. Sophie J. Parr was born in Champaign. She is a highly educated 
woman and has long been identified with public school work in Champaign. 
She graduated from the University of Illinois in 1893, and for sixteen years 
has been a successful teacher. For the last three years she has been prin- 
cipal of the Colonel Wolfe School at Champaign. Mrs. Parr is the widow 
of the late Louis J. Parr, who was a successful architect and practiced 
during his active life in Peoria, Illinois. He was graduated valedictorian 
of his class from the University of Illinois in 1897. Mr. Parr died in 
December, 1907. Mrs. Parr has two children : Harold Leslie and Marie 
Christine, both at home with their mother. The late Mr. Parr was an active 
member of the Congregational Church. 

JOSEPH KERR. One of the oldest and most honored names in Champaign 
County is that of Kerr, and its substantial qualities are fittingly commemo- 
rated by that name being assigned to one of the prosperous townships. It is 
in section 5 of this township that Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kerr reside and have 
their fine country home. Mr. Joseph Kerr has for many years been a hard 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 621 

working and prosperous farmer and has a great deal of real accomplishment 
to his credit. 

He was born in Kerr Township, a son of Samuel and Betsy Ann (Taylor) 
Kerr. His father was born in Ohio and his mother in Kentucky. Samuel 
Kerr, who was of Scotch-Irish stock, was one of the earliest pioneers of 
Champaign County and the first settler in the Sugar Grove community. He 
located there when his. nearest neighbor was six miles away- The country 
was a raw and unbroken prairie. There were no railroads nor towns, and 
the Kerr home was a nucleus around which other settlers gradually gathered 
and began the development of one of the finest sections of the entire county. 
Samuel Kerr was not only a hard working pioneer but a man of splendid 
character, and it was for him that the township was named. 

Mr. Joseph Kerr grew up in this county, attended the local schools, and 
started life independently when he married Emma Bradshaw. Mrs. Joseph 
Kerr was born in Fountain County, Indiana, a daughter of Thomas and 
Nancy (Daily) Bradshaw. She was only two years of age when her father 
died. Her mother then married again and moved to Champaign County, 
locating on the land which now constitutes the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kerr. 
Mrs. Kerr was the youngest of ten children. She secured her education in 
the Sugar Grove district school. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kerr started housekeeping on the 
place of her stepfather, David Morehouse. Mr. Morehouse had bought the 
land, consisting of eighty acres, from the Government at $1.50 an acre. At 
this time the land could hardly be bought for $175 an acre. Mr. and 
Mrs. Kerr had good ideas, sound ambition and industry, and these qualities 
have taken them far along the road to success. 

Into their home came four children. One of them died in infancy. The 
three who grew up are Nancy Belle, Rosa Lee and Joseph Foster. Mr. and 
Mrs. Kerr took great pains to give them the best of advantages both at home 
and in school. They first attended Sugar Grove School, where Mrs. Kerr 
was educated, and the daughters also attended school at Rankin, and Nancy 
took further courses in the Wingate High School in Montgomery County, 
Indiana. She fitted herself for teaching and followed that vocation for 
several years at the Strayer School, the Campbell School and the Trickle 
Grove School. She is now the wife of Milton Strayer, formerly a farmer 
but now living in Onarga, Illinois. The daughter Rosa Lee married Thomas 
Mclntosh, a carpenter living at Henning, Illinois. They have a bright and 
attractive daughter, Leta Ilene, now thirteen years of age and entering upon 
her work in the eighth grade of the public schools. The son, Joseph F. Kerr, 
is a successful agriculturist in Eaton County, Michigan. He married Cora 
McHaley. Their daughter, Agnes Cleo, is only eighteen years of age but 
has graduated with honors from the college at Olivet, Michigan, and has done 
some most creditable work in school, her record being a matter of pride to 
her parents and grandparents. 

Mr. Joseph Kerr is one of .the public spirited citizens of Champaign 
County. For six years his neighbors kept him in the office of road commis- 
sioner and for twenty-five years he was a school director. He believes that 
the best in schools are none too good for this rural district. Mr. and 
Mrs. Kerr attend the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pleasant Grove and 
are liberal supporters. Politically Mr. Kerr is a stancli Republican and has 
cast his vote for the principles of that party since early manhood. Mr. and 
Mrs. Kerr have spent their lives in Champaign County and have made their 
work and example count for good in the uplift of the community. Their 
home is one of generous hospitality and a distinct influence in the commu- 
nity. They are able to look back upon days and duties well spent and per- 
formed, and they may look back without regret and to the future without 
fear. 
2 7 



622 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

WILLIAM H. ZORGEK, M. D. For thirty-one years Doctor Zorger has 
practiced his profession in DeWitt and Champaign counties. He is a 
talented physician, has the advantage of long and thorough experience, and 
has been trained in the best schools of this country and by extensive observa- 
tion and study here and abroad. His able assistant and partner not only in 
life but in his profession is his wife, who is one of the pioneer women of the 
state to take up medicine as a profession and is one of the best equipped 
specialists in Champaign County. 

Doctor Zorger was born in DeWitt County, Illinois, September 5, 1860, 
a son of Jacob S. and Margaret (Miller) Zorger. His father was born in 
York County, Pennsylvania, and in 1833 removed to Monticello, Illinois. 
He established a mill, which for a number of years was the only mill to 
supply flour and meal to a large section of country. The mill was sold to 
Mr. Collins in 1858, and he in turn sold it to Mr. Mclntosh, and for many 
years it was known as the Mclntosh Mill. Jacob S. Zorger died at Weldon, 
Illinois, in 1902, and his widow is still living there. Of their ten children 
five are living, and Doctor Zorger was the fifth in order of birth. 

Doctor Zorger spent his early life in his father's home, had ample com- 
forts and. had the advantages of the common schools, but his preparation for 
his profession he had to acquire largely through his own efforts and earnings. 
Three years he taught in the district schools of DeWitt County. He then 
spent a year in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Chicago, and in 
1886 graduated from the medical department of Drake University at Des 
Moines, Iowa. Doctor Zorger received his diploma on the 20th of March 
and almost immediately began practice in his native county. In 1888 he 
removed to Champaign County and after five years at Sadorus he moved to 
the city of Champaign. 

On July 3, 1887, Dr. Zorger married Miss Annie L. Swan. She is a 
daughter of Alexander and Rebecca (Marvel) Swan. Her father was born 
in Scotland and her mother was a native of -DeWitt County, Illinois. Her 
father came to America in 1857, locating on a farm near Waynesville, 
DeWitt County, Illinois. He was one of ten children and eight brothers 
came to America, he being now the only survivor of the family. Mr. and 
Mrs. Swan had four children, three of whom are still living, and Mrs. 
Zorger is the oldest. 

Mrs. Zorger was educated in the common schools of Elm Grove, Illinois, 
afterwards attended the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, and 
taught school four years before her marriage. Their marriage was not 
only a mating of personalities but of professional inclinations. Mrs. 
Zorger went into a drug store and learned pharmacy. This experience 
was followed by her attending the Woman's Medical College at St. Louis, 
now known as the University Medical College of Missouri. She was grad- 
uated M. D. in 1894 and then joined her husband in practice at Cham- 
paign. In 1901 Dr. Zorger and wife went abroad and spent a year in 
Europe, where they attended clinics and courses in many of the most cele- 
brated medical centers. She took up the special study of diseases of the 
eye, ear, nose and throat, while he emphasized post-graduate courses in 
surgery. 

Dr. Zorger is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks, while Mrs. Zorger is active in the Pythian 
Sisters, the Court of Honor, the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Royal Neighbors, 
the Maccabees and by virtue of her ancestry is a member of the Daughters 
of the American Revolution. She has also made herself an effective and 
influential member of the Woman's Club of Champaign and Urbana. They 
attend the Unitarian church, and Dr. Zorger in politics is a Democrat. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 623 

Louis WILLIAM SCHLUTER. A splendid farm and country estate two 
miles east of Gifford represents the toil and effort and expenditure of char- 
acter and industry on the part of the Schluter family covering a long period 
of years. The present manager of that farm, and one who knows full well 
how to get the best out of the soil, is Louis William Schluter, a young and 
progressive farmer whose activities have brought him commendable promi- 
nence among the agriculturists of this section. Mr. Schluter's home is in 
section 36 of Kerr Township. 

He is a native of Champaign County and a son of John William and 
Gesche (Fecht) Schluter. His parents were both born in Germany but 
came to America when single and were married in this country. They first 
located in Adams County, Illinois, and then came to Champaign County. 
They possessed the sturdy characteristics of the German fatherland, and by 
energy and economy secured the comforts of their simple home and gradu- 
ally expanded their holdings to the possession of a very splendid estate. For 
a long time John W. Schluter worked for wages of $13 a month. There 
came a time when he was able to buy his first land, and he gradually accu- 
mulated more until his estate consisted of 480 broad acres, improved with 
excellent buildings, shade trees, and altogether constituting one of the most 
attractive farms in Champaign County. He and his good wife had a large 
family of children, one of whom died in infancy, another at six years, while 
Martin passed away at nineteen. The surviving children are John, Harm, 
Catherine, Anna, Louis and Antje. 

The parents did much for the education and training of these children, 
sending them to the Pleasant Valley school and also to the German school at 
Flatville. The family were for many years members of the German church 
at Flatville, but at present all of them attend the German Lutheran Church 
at Gifford. 

Louis W. Schluter grew up on the home farm and learned lessons of 
industry from his parents, acquiring the fundamentals of a literary training 
in the local schools. In 1913 he married Miss Annie Sjoken. Mrs. Schluter 
was born in Germany, daughter of John and Margaret Sjoken, natives of 
the same country. When she was twelve years of age the family immigrated 
to America. She was educated partly in the schools of Germany and partly 
in Champaign County. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schluter located on his father's estate 
and he assumed active management and has made good as a crop raiser and 
general farmer. Some years he has raised crops of 6,000 bushels of corn and 
5,000 bushels of oats and is one of the young men who responded vigorously 
to the call for increased food production in the year 1917. Besides a large 
equipment of farm machinery he has some very fine horses. 

Mr. and Mrs. Schluter have two bright young children, William, born in 
July, 1914, and John, born in July, 1916. In politics Mr. Schluter while 
usually a Republican is quite careful in the matter of casting his vote for 
the man and the principles he believes best suited for good government and 
progress. He is a splendid type of American citizen and it is his conviction, 
based upon experience, that no greater country exists in the world for the 
poor man who is ambitious and willing to work. Mr. Schluter has served as 
school trustee of Kerr Township. Having stepped into the position vacated 
by his father and having assumed the large responsibilities of managing the 
farm, he has neglected none of the rich opportunities thus presented, and 
has kept up the fields and all the details of the homestead and is a man of 
mark among the younger agricultural element of Champaign County. 
Standing by him through all his labors is his good wife, who is endowed 
with the solid virtues and the methodical industry characteristic of her 
German forefathers, and they have already gained many of those things 
which constitute success, while there is still a large future before them. 



624 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

DAVID G. FISHER, now living retired at Champaign, began farming in 
this county nearly half a century ago. He realizes as few men still living do 
the difficulties and the handicaps to which farming was subject in those early 
years, and he has also realized along with extensive experience financial 
independence and the success which is the object of all ambitious men. 

Mr. Fisher was born in Fulton County, Illinois, December 3, 1839. His 
parents, Frederick and Sarah (Fouts) Fisher, were both born in Clark 
County, Indiana. When they went to Illinois in 1833 they passed 
through Champaign County, but sought what to them seemed a better loca- 
tion in Fulton County. There they lived prosperously the rest of their 
days as farmers and both of them died in that county. Their children 
were: Jacob, John, Henry, Cynthia, all now deceased; Mary, who still re- 
sides in Fulton County; Sarah, wife of Marion Kimberland, of Missouri; 
David G. ; Clara, deceased ; Isabel, living at Canton in Fulton County, 
widow of Jacob Fouts; Elizabeth, deceased; Ellen, wife of Thomas Beets, 
of Kokomo, Indiana ; and Fred L., of Canton, Fulton County. 

David G. Fisher was reared and educated in Fulton County. He 
left home at the age of twenty-four and bought a farm of 140 
acres near Canton and was busy with its cultivation and management until 
ill health compelled him to give up his enterprise in the country and 
remove to town, where for three years he conducted a livery business. On 
selling out his interests in Fulton County Mr. Fisher came to Champaign 
County in the month of February, 1868. Land was then comparatively 
cheap and he bought a splendid place of 640 acres in Tolono 
Township. That was the scene of his efforts as a practical farmer and 
stockman and he continued to reside on his farm until 1900, when he sold 
and invested his capital chiefly in real estate property in Champaign. In 
1907 Mr. Fisher built a fine two-story brick house at 1191/2 South Neil 
Street. He now gives his time to the management of his private affairs 
and is a citizen of whom the people of Champaign County think most 
highly. In politics he is a Republican and is a Knight Templar Mason. 

Mr. Fisher was married May 23, 1863, to Mary Ellis, who died in 1906. 
She was the mother of the following children : Kate, Robert and Hattie, 
all now deceased; Fred, a farmer near Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Pearl 
and Myrtle. On July 28, 1911, Mr. Fisher married Serena (Hinds) 
Graves, a native of Champaign County. Her death occurred Novem- 
ber 8, 1916. By her first husband she had two children: Gertrude, de- 
ceased; and Ethel, wife of Fred Becker of Champaign. 

WILLIAM TOMLINSON. One of the oldest residents of Champaign County 
is Mr. William Tomlinson, whose home is at Penfield in Kerr Township. 
Mr. Tomlinson has experienced more than the average trials and ordeals of 
existence and he is well entitled to the esteem and respect that he enjoys in 
his community. 

Mr. Tomlinson was born in the Village of Franklin, near the City of 
Indianapolis, in Marion County, Indiana, a son of Robert and Rachel 
(Sheets) Tomlinson. His parents were both born in Indiana and his Grand- 
father Sheets was of German descent. Mr. Tomlinson was one of eight chil- 
dren, seven sons and one daughter. When he was a child his father died and 
a little later his mother passed awav at Carlyle on the Mississippi River. 

William Tomlinson came to Vermilion County, Illinois, with his uncle, 
Elisha Crawford, in 1849, when ten years old. He came to Champaign 
County in 1852, and arrived here a poor and friendless boy with no money 
and with nothing except his own determined ambition to stand him in good 
stead while making a way in the busy world. For a year he worked for a 
farmer at $6.50 a month, and his hours of .employment were from sunup to 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 625 

sundown. When Mr. Tomlinson came to Champaign County there were no 
railroads and very few towns. The nearest market place for mail and other 
supplies was Danville or Urbana. The young man had instead of money a 
boundless supply of push and energy, and he has used his industry to secure 
the living which he believed the world owed him. 

At the age of twenty-two he married Miss Lydia Carter. She was born 
in Vermilion County, Illinois. After his marriage Mr. Tomlinson bought 
eighty acres on the middle fork of Vermilion River, paying $7 an acre. 
There he started the task of founding a home of his own. Not long after- 
wards his plans were temporarily shattered when his young wife passed 
away at the birth of her first child. Mr.^Tomlinson married for his second 
wife Mary E. Walker. Four children were born to their marriage, three 
sons and one daughter, John, Albert, Andrew and. Eachel. These children 
were educated in the Kuder school. Again death visited the family and the 
mother passed away, leaving her youngest child only thirteen days old. 
Mr. Tomlinson again took upon himself the duties of a homemaker as well 
as a farmer, and proved both father and mother to his children. Some of 
the time he depended upon a housekeeper, but for months at a time he did 
his own housekeeping. For his third wife he married Ellen Rigleman, who 
died within two years. For his next wife he married Miss Louisa Lingo. 
A son and daughter were born to that marriage. The son while plowing corn 
in his father's field was killed by a stroke of lightning. The daughter, Effie, 
is now the wife of Harry Shumate and they live in Penfield. For his last wife 
Mr. Tomlinson married Mrs. Ellen Bates, who died about twelve years ago. 

Few citizens of Champaign County have been so severely tested as 
Mr. Tomlinson. With remarkable fortitude he has withstood the vicissitudes 
and trials of existence and everyone must wonder at his endurance and 
admire his faithfulness to family and children. 

His son John married Mahala S. Chenoweth and they live in South 
Dakota and are the parents of two children, George and Nellie. The son 
Albert married Erma Deidrich, and their four children, Alberta, Russell, 
Earl and Marlin, with their parents, all live in the home of Mr. William 
Tomlinson, and he takes great delight in these grandchildren. Andrew 
Tomlinson, the third child, now deceased, married Alta McClaren, and her 
children are Rosetta, Raymond, Mrle and Arthur. The daughter Rachel 
married Mr. Gray, now deceased, and she lives at Penfield, the mother of 
three children, Orin, Elden and Grace. 

During the passing years Mr. Tomlinson added to his land until his 
estate now comprises 130 acres, his home being about the center of the farm. 
His house is located on a fine bluff overlooking a rich valley of fertile bottom 
lands, with the Vermilion River sweeping gracefully around a border of 
trees. Thus he can live like a king, monarch of all he surveys, whose right 
there is none to dispute. He has for years been recognized as one of the 
successful and energetic farmers of Champaign County and the earth has 
yielded abundantly to his labors. He is a man of great public spirit and 
a thorough American in every sense. For a number of years he served as 
road commissioner of his district and also as a school director. Politically he 
is a stanch Republican. He cast his first vote for President Abraham 
Lincoln. Though a boy at the time, he has recollection of the stirring cam- 
paign when Polk was candidate for President in 1844, and he acquired his 
first knowledge of political issues in that time. Mr. Tomlinson's life has 
been closely identified with Champaign County. Coming here an orphan 
boy, he worked hard for his daily bread, and his industry has been steadfast 
through all the years of vicissitude and change and today he lives in a beau- 
tiful home, surrounded with children and grandchildren, and none will 
begrudge him his comfort and prosperity. 



626 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ALBERT C. BUKNHAM. Even the most casual visitor in Champaign is 
accustomed to associate the name Burnham with that city, where two of 
its most prominent institutions bear the name. It is true in a broad sense 
that the good or evil men do in their days lives after them, but seldom 
does this continuing influence take a better form of concrete benefit than 
in the Burnham Athenaeum Library and the Julia F. Burnham Hospital 
in Champaign. They are memorials with a purpose, and a reaction for 
good day after day upon the lives of thousands in the community which 
the late Albert C. Burnham did so much to enrich and improve. 

There was little significance attached at the time to the quiet advent 
of Albert C. Burnham into the law office of J. B. McKinley as a student 
in the spring of 1862. He was "practically unknown, but a't the end of 
thirty-five years of labor as a lawyer, banker and business man his work 
was firmly entrenched in the esteem and the business fabric of the com- 
munity. 

Albert C. Burnham was born at Deerfield, Michigan, February 20, 
1839, and died at Champaign, September 13, 1897. He had the training 
of a Michigan farm boy. His early education was from the public schools. 
During the years 1860-61 he taught school during the winter months in 
Iroquois County, Illinois. He possessed a studious, thoughtful nature, 
and he began life with a solid foundation of practical knowledge and 
integrity of character. After completing his studies with Mr. McKinley 
at Champaign he was admitted to the bar and became junior member of 
the law firm of McKinley & Burnham. From the first this firm had 
influential financial connections. Through its instrumentality a large 
amount of eastern capital was brought west to invest in farm securities 
in and around Champaign. The Middle West was not then overflowing 
with wealth as it is today, and the money brought in by this firm was 
greatly needed and was wisely expended in the improving and upbuilding 
of many farm properties. Mr. Burnham continued to be actively associ- 
ated with the law firm until 1876. 

From the law he then transferred his energies to the banking house of 
Burnham, McKinley and Company. In 1876 J. R. Trevett and R. R. 
Mattis were taken in the firm, Mr. McKinley retiring, and the business 
continued under the title Burnham, Trevett & Mattis. Mr. Burnham was 
senior member of this widely known financial house until the time of his 
death. 

It was Mr. Burnham's fortune and privilege to witness a marvelous 
development in Champaign County in the course of his active career. 
That development was primarily based upon the increasing agricultural 
resources. While not a tiller of the soil himself he wisely employed the 
forces of capital in agricultural development, and his banking house was 
always justly considered an integral part of the business and industrial 
structure of his home community. He was public spirited in every sense 
and was equally interested in the educational and moral development of his 
county. 

It was his long cherished plan to add something to the cultural 
elements in his community that led him two years before his death in 
1897, to give to the city of Champaign a magnificent lot in the heart of 
the business district, accompanied by the gift of fifty thousand dollars to 
be expended for the erection and maintenance of a library building. This 
gift has taken practical form in the Burnham Athenaeum. It is a library, 
and one of the real civic centers of the town. It is a monument to the 
memory of this sturdy banker and noble citizen, and thousands have 
benefited from the service it affords and will continue to so benefit for 
years yet to come. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 627 

In 1866 Albert C. Burnham married Miss Julia F. Davison, who was 
born in New York City, April 16, 1839. Mrs. Burnham died in New 
York City October 25, 1894. She was reared and educated in the public 
schools at Newark, New Jersey, and lived in the east until she came as 
the bride of Mr. Burnham to Champaign. Mrs. Burnham, while ever 
devoted to her home, had many other interests through which she expressed 
her character and culture. She was devoted to her church, was charitable, 
and throughout her life was a prominent figure in local society. For 
years she served as secretary of the State Board of Charities, and held 
that position at the time of her death. She was one of the first women 
to serve on the public school board at Champaign and was also a member 
of the Champaign Art Club. It was a memorial to her good works as 
well as a testimonial of his own appreciation of her companionship and 
character that Mr. Burnham after her death erected the Julia F. Burnham 
Hospital, which was formally opened March 5, 1895. The hospital has 
been in existence more than twenty years. As a public institution it is 
one of the most important in Champaign County. While its annual 
revenues come largely from the pay patients, it is also a practical charity, 
inasmuch as a large part of its service is rendered free. During the year 
1916 nearly fifteen hundred patients were admitted, with a daily average 
of thirty-four. A number of cases are treated free, especially children's 
cases. It is a noble institution, and stands as a memorial to a noble 
woman. 

EGBERT DAVISON BURNHAM is the only surviving son of the late Albert 
C. Burnham, long prominent as a pioneer lawyer and banker at Cham- 
paign and whose career is more fully noted on other pages. Robert 
Davison Burnham learned banking with his father, but for many years 
has been actively engaged in the farm loan business, with offices in the 
First National Bank Building. 

He was born in Champaign, February 19, 1872, one of the five children 
of the late A. C. Burnham and wife. Three of these children died in 
infancy. Mr. Burnham was the oldest and the second in age was Mary 
Bruce, now wife of Newton M. Harris. 

Mr. Burnham was liberally educated, though he did not complete a 
university course. He attended the University of Illinois and also the 
famous college preparatory school at Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He 
left school to take a position in his father's office in the Burnham, Trevett 
& Mattis Banking Company. He was well trained in the details of 
banking, but in a short time left his father's office to form a partnership 
with his brother-in-law, Newton M. Harris, in the farm loan business. 

Mr. Burnham has the public spirit of his honored father, has been a 
member of the Park Commission of Champaign, and is now serving on the 
Public Library Board. He is a member of the Episcopal church. Decem- 
ber 4, 1895, he married Miss May Wilcox, a native of Champaign. Their 
three children are Robert D., Jr., Sidney Wilcox and Albert C. 

ELNA A. ROBINSON. During a long and active career Mr. Robinson 
has been prominently identified with Champaign County both in a profes- 
sional and in a business way. His success in business has enabled him to 
retire and enjoy a financial competence and he is now a resident of the city 
of Champaign. 

Mr. Robinson was born in South Reading, Vermont, December 15, 1839, 
a son of Ebenezer, Jr., and Adeline (Williams) Robinson. His father was 
born at South Reading, Vermont, September 30, 1809, and died July 5, 
1849. He was married January 4, 1837, to Miss Williams, who was born 



628 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

December 19, 1814, and died July 18, 1894. They had three sons, Elna A., 
Stillman and Albert A. 

Stillman Eobinson is well rememb'ered at Champaign and in University 
circles and was one of the leading engineers of the country. He was 
graduated as a civil engineer from the University of Michigan, and from 
the age of twenty-five to twenty-eight was assistant on a United States 
lake survey and from twenty-eight to thirty-two years of age was assistant 
engineer with the faculty of the University of Michigan. From the age 
of thirty-two to forty he was professor of mechanical engineering and 
physics in the University of Illinois. He then accepted the chair of 
mechanical engineering with the Ohio State University, where he remained 
until he resigned in 1895. In 1896 he was given the degree D. Sc. and 
in 1899 was made professor emeritus in mechanical engineering at the 
Ohio State University. During, the years 1880-84 he was inspector of 
railroads and bridges for the State of Ohio. He was also engineer super- 
vising the construction of the famous Lick telescope in California. His 
death occurred at Columbus, Ohio, in 1910. 

Albert A. Eobinson was born October 21, 1844, and became a civil 
engineer. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and followed 
railroading all of his active life. He was vice-president and general man- 
ager of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Eailway, president of the 
Mexican Central Railway for nine years, and he is now living retired at 
Topeka, Kansas. 

Elna A. Robinson secured a substantial groundwork of literary training, 
and from seventeen until he was twenty-one was a machinist apprentice. 
In 1870 he entered the University of Illinois and was graduated in 1875 
with the degree Mechanical Engineer. For the next four years he remained 
as an assistant in the mechanical engineering department of the University. 
Mr. Robinson in 1878 formed a partnership with E. M. Burr in the general 
machine construction business. This partnership continued until dissolved 
in 1899, when Mr. Eobinson took the plumbing end of the business and 
continued it successfully until he sold out in 1915 and has since lived 
retired. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the Baptist 
Church. 

On April 27, 1861, Mr. Robinson married Miss Melora M. Smith, who 
died August 16, 1885. They were the parents of five children : Sarah Ann, 
Addie Eva and Gertrude Minnie are all now deceased. Gertrude M. became 
the wife of William L. Troyer and she left two children, Fannie F. and 
Mabel. Inez Mary is the wife of A. Boyd of Urbana and their children 
are Bert B., George A., Wilber A., Neil D., John R., Jay, Blanche, de- 
ceased, and Ruth. Fannie Nettie is the wife of Thomas Inskip, of Cham- 
paign, and has had three children, Thomas, deceased, Francis R. and 
Clarence E. Mr. Robinson married for his second wife Mrs. Semphronia E. 
(Stage) Jenks, who was born in Iowa. 

FRANCIS M. AVEY. Of the men whose ability, industry and forethought 
have added to the character, wealth and progress of Champaign County 
none stands higher than Francis M. Avey, now living retired at Rantoul, 
which has been his home for over forty-five years. Among other enviable 
distinctions Mr. Avey is one of the honored survivors of the great war of 
the rebellion, and he was a member of the first regiment that marched away 
from Illinois to fight in the South. His entire career has been in keeping 
with the high standards of patriotism which caused him to enter the army as 
a youth. 

He was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, January 24, 1835, and is now past 
four score. He is a son of Daniel and Hannah (Van Hise) Avey, the 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 629 

former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Maryland. Francis M. 
was the third of five children. His father was a farmer, and F. M. Avey 
grew up and obtained his early education in Butler County, Ohio. 

As a boy he heard much of the country of Illinois and Indiana, and at 
the age of sixteen his ambitions prompted him to go out to Fountain County, 
Indiana, where he had a brother. There he began an apprenticeship to the 
blacksmith's trade. Having learned the trade, he took his accomplishments 
into western Missouri. At that time western Missouri was a scene of the 
terrible border ruffian warfare which went on with more or less regularity 
until after the close of the Civil War. It was not a safe territory for a man 
who came from a free state and had the convictions of Mr. Avey. The first 
time he applied for work he found a big black slave working in a shop. 
This slave had been hired out by his master. In competition with such labor 
Mr. Avey could make no progress, and he soon left the country which had 
disgusted his ideas of liberty and freedom, and came to Illinois. In the 
vicinity of Decatur he hired out to a man, and for five months drove four 
yoke of cattle to a breaking plow. From there he went to Vermilion county 
and for two years was employed in a blacksmith shop at Georgetown. Then 
occurred in 1860 the election of Lincoln as president. In the disturbed 
condition that followed Mr. Avey went to Indiana and there became 
acquainted with a business man who had recently returned from Mattoon, 
Illinois. He reported that a company of soldiers were being raised at 
Mattoon, and the two boys hurried to that point and enlisted at Lincoln's 
first call for 75,000 troops. F. M. Avey enlisted in the first regiment organ- 
ized in Illinois, the Seventh Illinois Infantry, in Company B. He was in 
camp at Springfield, went from there to Alton, Illinois, and thence down 
the Mississippi to Cairo. The first time Mr. Avey saw the Eebel flag was at 
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi. For three weeks 
he and his comrades were at Cairo, and then were returned up the Ohio 
River to Mound City, where at the expiration of his three months' service 
he was mustered out on August 25, 1861. 

Later Mr. Avey helped recruit some men, and in February, 1862, enlisted 
at St. Louis. For three months he was on duty as a patrol in St. Louis. 
In April, 1862, he and his comrades were organized into a company, and he 
was elected its second lieutenant. Three months later he was promoted to 
first lieutenant, and for one year he served as post adjutant of a military 
post. He was then made ordnance officer, in charge of the ordnance depart- 
ment, and filled that position with efficiency and fidelity until his term of 
enlistment expired. He was mustered out at Benton Barracks in St. Louis 
April 15, 1865. 

While on duty in the ordnance department he was under the command 
of Major Colendar, a major in the regular army. Their associations were 
very pleasant and were the basis of a lasting friendship. On being relieved 
from duty and while waiting for transportation Mr. Avey started to spend 
the day in camp, and on arriving saw the flag at half mast. That was the 
first intimation he had of the assassination of the beloved President Lincoln. 
Mr. Avey was stationed at Rolla, Missouri, when Lincoln was re-elected in 
1864. At that time Illinois soldiers were not allowed to vote in Missouri, 
but Mr. Avey's regiment was the Fifth Missouri Cavalry, and all of them 
marched in a body and voted for Lincoln amid the cheers of the multitude. 
The women, he reports, were especially bitter. They called them Lincoln- 
ites, black Republicans and other appropriate names. But the brave boys 
in blue did not hesitate to express their sentiments and convictions. 

After being mustered out of the army with this honorable record 
Mr. Avey came to Champaign County, and in February, 1868, he married 
Miss Alice Bryan. Mrs. Avey was born near Mahomet, Illinois, a daughter 



630 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

of John and Melinda (Busey) Bryan. Melinda Busey enjoyed the distinc- 
tion of being the first bride in Champaign County. Her wedding was cele- 
brated in a log cabin in Urbana. She and her husband became the parents 
of ten children, but the three who grew up were Alice, Lillis and Edward. 
Alice Bryan obtained her education in Urbana, and while her people lived 
in the country she boarded at the home of Colonel Busey's mother. Later 
the Bryan family removed to Urbana and were prominent people them- 
selves and numbered among their friends the best people of the city, includ- 
ing the late Judge Cunningham. Alice Bryan's grandfather, Isaac Busey, 
and Mr. Webber donated the land for the county seat at Urbana, Mr. Busey 
giving thirty acres and Mr. Webber twenty acres. This gift still stands as 
a memorial to their public spirit. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Avey lived in Champaign, where he 
worked at his trade, but in March, 1871, they removed to Eantoul. He then 
built the house on Sangamon Avenue where he has continuously resided for 
over forty-five years. For many years Mr. Avey conducted his blacksmith 
shop, and to furnish employment during his later years of retirement and 
leisure he kept the news stand at Rantoul. 

Mr. Avey's only son and child is Arthur Avey, who was born December 7, 
1868. He attended the Rantoul High School and at the age of sixteen 
entered the Bryant & Stratton Business College at Chicago. For the past 
twenty-six years Arthur Avey has been associated with the P. V. Palmer 
Wholesale Cloak House at Chicago. The only interruption to this regular 
service was while he was in the Spanish-American War. When he enlisted 
for that service his employer said : "Mr. Avey, if you are gone ten years re- 
member your position awaits your return." Arthur Avey enlisted for that 
war in the first Illinois regiment that started from Chicago. He went to 
Santiago, Cuba, and was in the several engagements around that city until 
the Spanish commander surrendered. Mr. Arthur Avey thinks that Colonel 
Roosevelt was the finest officer in the war. He commends him especially for 
his interest in the soldiers. When the boys were in the trenches Roosevelt 
was always looking after their welfare, and his kindness and thoughtfulness, 
as well as his bravery, endeared him to the heart of every American trooper. 
Mr. Arthur Avey married Miss Mamie Flood of Chicago. Three children 
were born to them : Francis Marion, who was named for his grandfather 
and is now deceased ; Anna Dorothy and Howard Francis. These two chil- 
dren take a great deal of pleasure in their periodical visits to Rantoul to 
their grandfather and grandmother. 

Mr. F. M. Avey has lived to vote for every presidential candidate of the 
Republican party since it was organized, beginning with John C. Fremont. 
In many ways besides the part he performed as a gallant soldier he has given 
'evidence of his public spirit and his usefulness in the community. For 
twenty-seven years he served as treasurer of the Village of Rantoul, for four 
years was a justice of the peace, and has also been village clerk and a member 
of the town council. For thirty years he was secretary of the Masonic 
Lodge, and as proof of their esteem his fellow members of the fraternity 
presented him with a beautiful gold headed cane, on which are engraved the 
words : "F. M. Avey from Rantoul Lodge No. 470, A. F. & A. M., Secretary, 
1885 to 1915." Mrs. Avey possesses as a valued souvenir a fine white bed- 
spread, which was purchased by her grandfather, Isaac Busey, in Louisville, 
Kentucky, in 1807. 

HOWARD Ross, has built up a large business as a retail meat dealer in 
Champaign, learned his trade in that city, and by good management and 
by making it a point to offer the best of service and goods he is now one of 
the leaders in his line in the county. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 631 

Mr. Eoss was born near Savoy, Illinois, August 29, 1874, a son of 
David I. and Mary Elizabeth (Bowers) Eoss. His father was bom in 
Newburgh, New York, and his mother in Indiana. David Eoss came to 
Champaign County about 1869. He was an active farmer here until 1882, 
when he moved west to Topeka, Kansas, and followed the drug business, 
in that city four years. After returning to Champaign County he lived 
retired until his death on January 21, 1890. His wife died in Topeka, 
Kansas, in 1888. There were five children: A son who died in infancy; 
Howard; Grace, wife of Bert Thrasher, of Berryton, Kansas; Ella, wife 
of Ralph Yingling, of Kansas; and the fifth, a son, died in infancy. 

Howard Eoss spent part of his early boyhood in the State of Kansas. 
He was educated in local schools, and when fourteen years of age he got a 
job driving a grocery wagon at Champaign. A year later. he found work 
with a meat market driving a wagon, and after about two years he went 
in the shop to learn the trade. Altogether he put in twelve years with 
this firm, Dallenbach & Boyle. He became an expert at the block, was a 
valuable man to his firm, and at the same time acquired a thorough 
knowledge of the financial end of the meat business. With this experience, 
and with such capital as he had been able to accumulate, he opened a small 
shop for himself in 1901. Later he removed to his present location at 
105 South Neil Street, and besides tlie business he owns a half interest in 
the building. 

Mr. Eoss married June 9, 1897, Miss Minnie Sinz, a native of Cham- 
paign County. Mr. Ross is a Republican in politics, and served as fire 
and police, commissioner under Mayor Coughlin. In Masonry he is 
affiliated with the Lodge, Chapter, Council and Knight Templar Com- 
mandery at Champaign and is also a member of the Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks. 

CHESTER GARFIELD REYNOLDS is one of the enterprising young farmers 
of Harwood Township, his well cultivated and managed farm being in sec- 
tion 11 of that township, not far from the Village of Gifford. 

Mr. Reynolds was born in that township in 1881, the next to the youngest 
of the fifteen children of Hanford and Antoinette (Roberts) Reynolds. 
Two of the children died in infancy. 

A conspicuous factor in the early days of Illinois was Father Hanford 
Reynolds, who was born in Westchester County, New York. He was a sur- 
veyor by profession and followed that calling in the early days, laying out 
the City of Geneseo, Illinois. Before the war he also sold fruit trees in Mis- 
souri. He had a varied and active experience throughout the Middle West 
and came to Champaign County about 1866. In his early travels in Mis- 
souri he would come upon what was called a grocery store at every cross 
roads. Whiskey was one of the chief commodities sold in such stores. When he 
came to Champaign County the nearest railroad to his home was Ludlow. 
The land was all prairie, and deer and wild game of all kinds abounded. He 
hauled lumber from Ludlow to build a small house and moved in before the 
roof was completed. There were so many ducks, geese and brant in the 
country that he had to hire men to shoot them in order to keep the birds 
from eating his crops. 

Chester G. Reynolds attended the Pleasant Vale Schoolhouse, also some- 
times called the Reynolds School. The name Pleasant Vale was given to the 
school by his mother. 

Success attended the industrious labors of 'Hanford Reynolds and wife, 
and they built a fine two-story brick house to replace the humble home in 
which they had first lived. They also planted many shade trees and in 
course of time had one of the most attractive places in the county. Hanford 



632 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Reynolds was in this county early enough to buy an entire section of land at 
$10 an acre. This land did not have a tree or bush, and it was his planting, 
continued over a course of many years, that gave the land its present pleasant 
aspect. 

Hanford Reynolds also bought 1,400 acres in Sunflower County, Mis- 
sissippi, about 1905, at $12 an acre. One of the conspicuous features of this 
land was a grand cypress tree twenty-seven feet in circumference. There 
were many oaks six feet in diameter. One large tree had all the bark peeled 
off by bears. Mr. Reynolds conducted a sawmill, and the logs were so large 
that a groove had to be cut in some of them in order to make them pass the 
saw six feet in diameter. It was in the same territory where Roosevelt did 
his bear hunting. The canebrakes were twenty feet high and so thick that a 
man could hardly get through them. Hanford Reynolds took his wife and 
son Chester to that locality and remained nearly two years. The climate did 
not agree with the family and they were finally obliged to leave. Mr. Chester 
Reynolds says that he did not enjoy living where chill tonics were sitting 
around on the shelves in every house. On that southern plantation they tried 
raising cotton and cleared up considerable land, burning timber that would 
be exceedingly valuable today. While there Hanford Reynolds organized 
the Christian Church, and some of the hardest characters in the neighbor- 
hood were converted, and the church stands as a monument to his high char- 
acter and public spirit. 

Mrs. Hanford Reynolds died at Rantoul in 1910, on her return from 
Mississippi. She was a noble woman, and exemplified the best virtues of the 
home maker and the kindly neighbor. 

For a number of years Chester G. Reynolds has looked after the manage- 
ment of the old home estate known as Cloverdale. He has a tenant on the 
farm and this family keeps house for him. He gives active supervision to 
the 120 acres, and the well tilled fields show the care bestowed upon them. 
Mr. Reynolds has also taken great pains to keep up the home place, and has 
cultivated and cared for the flowers which his mother so much loved. He 
has also carried out many of the ideas published in the bulletins of the 
Illinois State University on beautifying country homes. His home is sur- 
rounded by generous plantings of such ornamental shrubs as witch hazel, 
golden elder, sumacs, butterfly bush, snowberry, etc. 

Mr. Reynolds is a man of broad views, was reared a Republican, and in 
the main gives his support to the candidates and principles of that party. 
His parents were active members of the Christian Church known as Mount 
Olivet in Ford County. 

F. C. AMSBARY, superintendent and manager of the Champaign Water- 
works, has been superintending waterworks plants in different parts of the 
country for upwards of thirty years. It has in fact been his regular pro- 
fession, though some of his younger years were devoted to railroading. 
Mr. Amsbary has numerous connections that identify him with the sub- 
stantial interests of his home city. 

A native of Illinois, he was born at Pekin, January 24, 1863, a son of 
William Wallace and Harriet E. (Harlow) Amsbary, both of whom are 
natives of New York State. William W. Amsbary moved to Champaign 
in 1907, and for several years was connected with the waterworks here. 
He died in 1911, and his widow is still living at Champaign. Their five 
children are: George E., of Urbana; F. C. ; Wallace Bruce, of Chicago; 
Don H., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Cordelia, still at home with her 
mother. 

When F. C. Amsbary was four years of age his parents removed to 
Delavan in Tazewell County, Illinois. He attended the local schools there, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 633 

and at the age of fifteen he left home and worked as clerk in a store at 
Tremont in the same county for two years. He then went to Peoria and 
acquired his initial experience in railroad offices, where he remained about 
three years. He was next at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in the Chicago North- 
western Eailway offices a year and a half, then for two years a railroad clerk 
at Burlington, Iowa, and returning to Pekin, Illinois, engaged in the gro- 
cery business for two years. 

Mr. Amsbary began his career as a waterworks superintendent at 
Pekin, Illinois, in 1888. After two years he went to Wichita, Kansas, and 
had active charge of the waterworks in that city for three years. For nine 
years he was superintendent of waterworks at Little Rock, Arkansas, and 
in 1899 came to Champaign, where he has since been active manager and 
superintendent of this public utility. 

Mr. Amsbary was married at Pekin, Illinois, April 16, 1890, to Addie A. 
Aydelott, a native of Pekin. They have five children : Helen A., Har- 
low A., Harriet E., Addie E. and Frank C. 

Mr. Amsbary served as president of the Champaign Chamber of Com- 
merce in 1912, is now president of the Champaign Club, and of the 
Rotary Club and is a director in the Loan and Investment Association, js 
a Knight Templar Mason, a member of the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks, the Champaign Country Club and the Rotary Club. His 
church is the Presbyterian. Politically he is a Republican. For three 
terms he served as president of the Champaign Board of Education, and 
has always taken a keen interest in all local institutions. 

WILLIAM KEUSINK was for many years actively engaged in business in 
Champaign, but is now living retired in that city. His family came to 
Champaign County before the Civil War. 

Mr. Keusink was born in Schenectady, New York, August 19, 1856, 
a son of Benardus and Wilhelmina (Hall) Keusink. His parents were 
both natives of Holland, where they were married, and soon after their 
marriage they immigrated to America. About 1860 they came' to Cham- 
paign, where the senior Keusink followed his trade as a machinist in the 
employ of the Illinois Central Railway Company. His death occurred in 
April, 1869. His widow survived him until July, 1913. Of their twelve 
children, six survived the father, and William Keusink was the third in 
age. 

William Keusink grew up in Champaign, attended the local schools, and 
in 1872, at the age of sixteen, began to learn the cabinet maker's trade. 
He followed that as an occupation until 1884, and then entered the 
laundry business. For twenty years Mr. Keusink conducted the leading 
laundry of this city, known as the Champaign Steam Laundry Company. 
He sold out in May, 1914, and has since retired and has merely looked 
after his private interests. 

On June 28, 1879, he married Elizabeth Lynch, who was born in 
Cooperstown, New York, a daughter of William and Catherine (Lennon) 
Lynch. Her parents were both natives of Ireland, were brought to the 
United States as children, and lived first in New York City and afterwards 
in Utica, New York. The Lynch family removed to Champaign in 1875, 
but after three years returned to New York State, where Mrs. Keusink's 
father died in September, 1911, and her mother on May 5, 1913. Mrs. 
Keusink was the oldest of six children. 

Mr. and Mrs. Keusink have two children: William B., a druggist; and 
Wilhelmina M., wife of H. C. Johnson, of Champaign. Mr. Keusink is a 
Republican in politics and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of 
America. He served about twenty-five years in the Champaign volun- 
teer fire department. 



634 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

LELAND S. FOWLER, of the Penfield community of Champaign County, 
is one of the young and progressive agriculturists of this section. He has 
the management of his father's fine farm and he took hold of the business 
with such vigor as to bring results that are surprising even to himself. 

Mr. Fowler was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, and is a son of 
U. G. and Etta (Wolf) Fowler. His parents were also born in Illinois. 
There were two sons of the parents, Wylie M. and Leland S. Both of them 
were educated in the high school at Urbana and the state university. 

On October 22, 1914, Leland S.* Fowler married Miss Atha Wood. She 
was born at Gifford in Champaign County, daughter of E. A. and Laura 
(Rowland) Wood. \Vhile the Fowler family had two sons there were two 
daughters in the Wood family, Edythe and Atha. Miss Atha graduated 
from the Gifford High School, from the Champaign High School, took up 
the study of domestic science in the University of Illinois, and also received 
much musical instruction. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Fowler started life on his father's 
farm and he now has under his direct management 740 acres. The Fowler 
residence is one of the finest in the country district of Champaign County, 
a country home that does credit and is a monument to the industry of 
Mr. U. G. Fowler. His father built up an estate of approximately 1,450 
acres in this part of Illinois. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fowler have a bright and attractive young daughter, Beth 
Louise, now two years of age, also a son, Harold Wood, born July 29, 1917. 
Mr. Fowler enjoys the complete confidence of his community and has been 
elected and has served three years as township assessor. He and his wife are 
active members and supporters of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pen- 
field, and in politics he is a Republican and a member of the Masonic Order. 
He and his wife are among the cultured and successful younger families of 
Champaign County and have already gone far to the attainment of that 
success which is the object of every worthy ambition. 

THOMAS A. LITTLE. One of the most interesting homes of Rantoul is 
that of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Little in the extreme northeast quarter of 
the town. They live there enjoying a happy combination of both the rural 
and the urban facilities. They have sufficient ground to afford Mr. Little 
an opportunity to indulge his favorite pastimes of agriculture, not without 
considerable profit, and they also have sufficient means to live comfortably 
without fear of the future and enjoy their many friends. 

Mr. Little was born in Licking County, Ohio, in 1851, a son of John and 
Charlotte (Coon) Little. His parents were natives of Ohio, and his 7nother 
was of an old and prominent family of that state. In 1916 Mr. and Mrs. 
Little attended the annual reunion in Ohio of the Coon family and spent two 
weeks in and around Newark renewing old acquaintances. 

Thomas A. Little was educated in the district schools of Vermilion and 
Champaign counties, Illinois, and became a practical farmer. He was also 
engaged in a mercantile business in Rantoul, from the spring of 1872 to 
1905. At the age of thirty-five he married Lizzie Cole. Three children were 
born to their union, two of whom died in infancy. Lewis C., the only one 
to grow up, proved a boy of fine capacity and of studious ability. He was 
graduated with honors from the Rantoul High School in 1905, having done 
his last two years of work in one, in addition to clerking in a store both 
morning and evening. From there he went into a law office to study law, 
and was well on the way to a professional career when he died. He was only 
nine years of age when his mother passed away. 

Thomas A. Little subsequently married Mary J. Lindsey, who was born 
in Vermilion County, Illinois, a daughter of David H. and Sophronia 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 635 

Lindsey. Mrs. Little was only a child when her mother died. She was 
educated in the Collispn district school and also at Danville. After 
Mr. and Mrs. Little married they took up their home in Rantoul, where he 
engaged in a mercantile business until 1905. Since then he has been 
handling insurance and also has a collection agency. 

A few years ago Mr. Little determined to establish a home for himself 
combining the country with the town, and with that end in view bought 
five and a half acres in the northeast part of Rantoul. He has a large white 
house as his home, and has planted shade and spruce trees, which in time 
will make the place a perfect bower. One feature of his farm is a strawberry 
patch with over 4,000 plants. Mr. Little raises poultry successfully, and 
has used the Philo system. His land occupies high ground and commands 
a fine view in all directions. 

Mr. and Mrs. Little attend worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
though Mrs. Little is a member of the Christian denomination. Politically 
he is a stanch and progressive Republican, and was a loyal supporter of 
Roosevelt. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and 
served as recorder of the Court of Honor for ten years. Mrs. Little is a 
member of the Rebekahs. 

JOHN I. GROVES, M. D., was born in Cass County, Illinois, May 2, 
1854, a son of Isaac and Mary E. (Coal) Groves. His father was born 
in England and his mother in the State of Maryland. Isaac Groves was 
for many years an active minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 
1878 he removed to Champaign, and died there December 12, 1906. By 
his first marriage he had two children, Elizabeth J., wife of Hugh 
Mitchell, of Fisher, Illinois; and Harriet A., wife of Thomas M. Foster, 
of Dickens, Iowa. Rev. Mr. Groves' second wife died March 22, 1905. 
She was the mother of two sons: Dr. John Groves; and Charles W. 

Doctor Groves remained at home with his father until he was twenty 
years of age. In the meantime he had acquired a substantial education, 
and he then took up teaching and followed that profession for four years in 
country districts. For three years he was a teacher in Vermilion County, 
Illinois. He then entered the Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago, 
from which he was graduated M. D. in 1880, and spent seven years. in the 
practice of medicine in Indiana and Illinois. His first practice was done 
in Indiana, and after two years he removed to Gibson City, where he 
practiced for four years before coming to Champaign, and since locating 
here he has devoted his time to real estate interests. Doctor Groves has 
membership in the Homeopathic Medical Society, and was a charter mem- 
ber of Hesperon Lodge No. 123 of the Knights of Pythias of which he is 
a Past Chancellor Commander. He also belongs to the Modern Woodmen 
of America, in which he has served as Venerable Consul, and is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Doctor Groves was married in ' September, 1883, to Grace F. Groves, 
who died October 4, 1885. On February 17, 1887, he married Miss E. 
Lynne Burton. They have one child, Evangeline Eunice, who graduated 
from the University of Illinois with the class of 1912. 

JOHN J. REA. A member of the Champaign County bar for thirty- 
seven years, John J. Rea has during this period risen to be one of the 
most forceful attorneys of his native community, and at this time occupies 
a recognized position of eminence among the legists of Urbana, where his 
entire professional career has been passed. While his later years have 
been crowned with success, Mr. Rea is fully acquainted with the rough 
and stony paths which the young aspirant so often finds it necessary to 



636 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

trod, for in his own youth he found no royal road to success, but 
forced to carve out his own destiny and to make his own opportunities. 
Determination and persistency triumphed in the end, and the reward has 
been commensurate with the labor. 

John J. Rea is a product of the farming district of Mahomet Township, 
Champaign County, where he was born on his father's .farm October 11, 
1852. His father, John J. Rea, was born in Lewis County, Kentucky, 
and first came to Champaign County as early as 1836, in which year he 
purchased one hundred and sixty acres of government land in what later 
became Mahomet Township. He did not remain here at that time, but 
returned to his Kentucky home, where he lived during the next thirteen 
years, and while there was united in marriage with Miss Sarah P. Hender-. 
son, also a native of Lewis County, Kentucky. She was a daughter of the 
late Judge Henderson. In 1849 they came to Champaign County and 
located on the farm which Mr. Rea had bought years before, and there the 
father passed the rest of his life, his death occurring March 5, 1863. He 
had by that time put a large part of his land under cultivation and was 
on the high-road to success, but death came to him when he was still in 
middle life, with his work unfinished. Mrs. Rea survived her husband 
for many years, dying at Ludlow, Champaign County, in November, 1909, 
when ninety years of age. She was one of the best known and most highly 
respected ladies of her part of the county. There were eight children in 
the family, as follows : Mary E., who died in 1907 ; Robert, whose death 
occurred in 1860; Sarah E. and Louisa A., who are both deceased; 
Thomas H., of Mahomet ; Alice A., deceased ; John J. ; and William T., 
also deceased. 

John J. Rea remained on the home farm until he was fifteen years of 
age, and during this time attended the country schools during the winter 
terms, his summers being spent in assisting on the farm. He then began 
attending school at Mahomet, and spent one year at Mount Pleasant, now 
Farmer City, when, being compelled to contribute to his own support as 
well as to that of the family, he secured a position as clerk in the general 
store of P. H. Scott at Mahomet. Mr. Rea remained in Mr. Scott's 
employ for three years, but by that time, having given it a thorough trial, 
found merchandising distasteful to him, and began teaching in the country 
schools, where he advised the youthful mind for three or four years. In 
the meantime he had become interested in the subject of law, and after 
about eighteen months of study, during hours that could be spared from 
his school work, on March 16, 1879, he located at Urbana and entered 
the law offices of Somers & Wright. He was duly admitted to the bar 
of Illinois in June, 1880, and soon thereafter formed a law partnership 
with Judge Sim, of Urbana, but after two and one-half years this associa- 
tion was mutually dissolved, and since then Mr. Rea has been engaged in 
practice alone. He now has one of the best law clienteles in the county 
and is acknowledged to be a shrewd and capable attorney, the elasticity of 
whose mind, combined with keen faculties of perception and analysis 
and a mastery of the principles of the common law, have made him a 
striking and successful advocate. If there is a close legal point involved 
in any issue his examination of the authorities bearing upon it is 
exhaustive. From the time he accepts a case until he has carried it to 
the highest tribunal, his client's interest comes before all else, and perhaps 
this quality of fidelity has done as much as anything else to win him 
confidence and patronage. During the administration of President Cleve- 
land, Mr. Rea was offered several important positions, one being that of 
chief clerk of the auditor's office in the Treasury Department at Washing- 
ton, D. C., and another that of federal attorney looking after the claims 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 637 

of the Indians made for services of their ancestors during the Civil War, 
but both of these offers he refused, preferring to devote himself to the 
responsibilities of his constantly growing private practice. Mr. Eea is a 
staunch Democrat. He has served five years as supervisor of Urbana 
Township and three years as city attorney of Urbana, and has always 
shown marked executive and official ability. His fraternal connections 
include membership in the Masons, the Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America. 

On April 5, 1882, Mr. Eea was married to Miss Minnie H. Fugate, 
who was born in Illinois, and to this union there have been born two 
children : Thurston Wayne, now managing editor of the Urbana Courier, 
who married Alydia Conkwright and has three children, John J. Ill, Myrtle 
Ellenor and Robert Wayne; and John Carlysle, whose death occured Jan- 
uary 5, 1901. 

FEED HESS. On the roster of the energetic men who are discharging 
the duties connected with public positions in Champaign County is found 
the name of Fred Hess, whose incumbency of the office of county clerk 
goes back over a period of more than six and one-half years. The county 
clerkship is an office which carries with it some of the heaviest responsibili- 
ties and most onerous duties, the important character of which demand the 
presence and labor of a man of strong intellect, who can combine accuracy 
with industry and fidelity. The fact that Mr. Hess has retained the 
office during the long period that he has should be sufficient proof that he 
is possessed of the qualities mentioned, or at least that he has satisfied the 
people in this respect. He is one of the native sons of the county who 
have made excellent records in public life. 

Fred Hess was born in the city of Champaign, Illinois, May 19, 1871, 
and is a son of Isaiah H. and Sarah A. (Hardin) Hess, the former a native 
of New Jersey and the latter of Pennsylvania. His father was still a young 
man when, in 1857, he left his native state and came to Illinois. As a 
youth he had learned the trade of plasterer, and after following this occu- 
pation as a journeyman for a number of years developed into a con- 
tractor in the same line, and for a long period carried on a large and suc- 
cessful business at Champaign. His death occurred October 12, 1875, 
when he had reached only a little past middle age. Among the older 
residents of Champaign are a number who remember him as a man of 
his word, an excellent workman and a good citizen. Mrs. Hess survived 
her husband until August 16, 1889, and also passed away at Champaign. 
They were the parents of nine children, of whom five passed away before 
the birth of Fred, the others being : William H., deceased ; Amelia M., 
who is a resident of Champaign; Jessie A., who is deceased; and Fred. 

Fred Hess was only a little more than four years of age at the time 
his father died, but the mother managed to give her children satisfactory 
educational advantages, and lived long enough to see her youngest son 
graduate from the Champaign High School, with the class of 1888. He 
was an ambitious and enterprising youth, and as soon as he had completed 
his education started in search of employment. His first business experi- 
ence was with a grocery at Champaign, but after one year he decided his 
talents and tastes did not lie in this direction, and he transferred his ser- 
vices to the office of the Wilcox Abstract Company, where he remained 
some eight years. Here he gained valuable experience that fitted him for 
the next position that opened for him, that of deputy clerk in the Cham- 
paign County clerk's office, a position which he retained during two admin- 
istrations. His advancement up to this time had been sure and -steady, 
and he was now ready to take a further step, which he made when, in 

28 



638 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

November, 1910, he was the successful candidate for the office of county 
clerk. He accordingly took Tip the reins of office in December of the 
same year, and since that time has continued as the incumbent of the 
office. The work of this department in the county administration entails 
a comprehensive amount of detail labor, including the issuance of marriage 
licenses, the keeping of records of births and deaths, assisting at tax sales, 
and making redemptions from same ; receiving all tax levies and computing 
county, state and all city, village, district and other municipal taxes. As 
clerk of the County Court, the county clerk keeps a record of insane, 
pauper support, feeble-minded, inheritance tax and other cases. Nearly 
all special assessment cases are recorded in this office. The foregoing by 
no means entirely covers the duties of the clerk in full, but is sufficient to 
show that the incumbent needs to be a man of ability, and that when he is 
retained in office for six years that he has carried on his duties in a capable 
manner. 

Mr. Hess was married June 11, 1904, to Miss Maud Lloyd, a native 
of Ohio. They have no children. Mr. Hess is a Eepublican in his 
political views. He is fraternally connected with the Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Masons, and in the 
latter belongs to the Blue Lodge and Chapter and to Danville Consistory. 
He has numerous friends in all these orders, as well as in political and 
official life. 

WILLIAM L. STURDYVIN. A resident for more than forty-five years in 
Champaign County has made William L. Sturdyvin one of his community's 
best known citizens, and the honorable and industrious life he has led has 
given him a substantial place among his people. The years have dealt 
kindly with him and with his efforts, and he and his good wife now reside 
in a comfortable and hospitable home in Eantoul. Theirs is one of the fine 
residences facing the park in Eantoul, and stands on a street corner about 
two blocks from the interurban station. 

Mr. Sturdyvin is a native of Illinois and was born in Tazewell County, 
twenty-two miles south of Peoria. He is a son of Obadiah and Cynthia 
(Musick) Sturdyvin. His parents were born in Ohio and in pioneer times 
migrated to Illinois, locating south of what was then an Indian trading 
post consisting of a single log cabin on the site of the present vigorous City 
of Peoria. In the Sturdyvin family there were the following children 
besides William L. : Grant, Abraham and James, deceased ; Steven, Allen 
and Eobert; and two deceased daughters. The children were able to attend 
school in their pioneer district of Illinois only about three months a year. 
The Sturdyvins lived forty-five miles from Springfield, and in the early days 
there were only two houses on the entire road. Besides farming the father 
kept a tavern and one of its guests at different times was Abraham Lincoln, 
then an obscure Illinois lawyer. William Sturdyvin has boyhood recollec- 
tions of the great emancipator. One time he heard him plead a case in law 
court, and has a distinct recollection of the shrewd and effective arguments 
used by the Illinois statesman. 

Mr. Sturdyvin married Catherine Wallace. She was born in the land of 
the shamrock, Ireland, a daughter of Edward and Anna Wallace. When 
she was two years of age her parents immigrated to America. There were 
no steamships crossing the Atlantic at that time and the family spent two 
months on the water. Mr. and Mrs. Sturdyvin began their married life in 
Tazewell County on a rented farm. They had hope, courage and enthusiasm, 
and hardships and difficulties were not sufficient to daunt their buoyant 
energy. From Tazewell County they removed to Bureau County, Illinois, 
but after a short time returned to their former home and in 1871, the year 
of the great Chicago fire, came to Champaign County. Here Mr. Sturdyvin 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 639 

bought 160 acres of land, for which he paid $15 an acre. It was raw prairie 
and in time was converted into a fertile and productive farm under his 
individual labors. He afterwards bought other land, at a much higher price, 
and still owns a farm estate of 200 acres. 

In the meantime children came into their home. Their family, named 
in order of birth, are : Anna, James, George, Mamie, Edward, Joseph and 
Carrie. Two children died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Sturdyvin had a keen 
appreciation of their responsibilities to their children and in order to fit 
them for life's' responsibilities sent them to the district schools and later to 
the high school at Eantoul. Joseph and Carrie both graduated from the 
Eantoul High School and taught school several years. Anna finished her 
education in Champaign, and also became a successful teacher. She married 
Edward O'Donnell, now deceased, and her children are Frank and Joseph. 
James Sturdyvin married Catherine Delaney of Bellflower, and has children 
named Evylin, Earl and Agnes. George, a real estate man at Champaign, 
married Kate Harney. Mamie is the wife of James E. Leonard. Edward, a 
piano dealer at Champaign, married Nellie Gunning, and their children are 
Leonard, Marie and Loretta. Joseph is in the undertaking business at 
Champaign and married Agnes Fitzgerald. Carrie is the wife of Thomas 
Callahan and lives in Rensselaer, Indiana. 

Throughout his long and industrious career Mr. Sturdyvin devoted his 
best energies to farming. About Seventeen years ago he retired from his 
country place and bought his present home in Rantoul. He and his wife are 
active members and regular attendants of worship at St. Malachi's Catholic 
Church, and their children were baptized in the same faith. To their chil- 
dren they have given the best of educational advantages and home training 
and have endeavored to make them true and loyal American citizens. 
Mr. Sturdyvin has always appreciated the glory and dignity of America and 
has told his children many times that every one coming to this country 
ought to appreciate the nation and the flag which waves over it. 

Mr. Sturdyvin has served as school director and also as road commis- 
sioner, and in addition to his work as a farmer he has taken contracts for 
grading and building thirty-six miles of improved highway in the county. 
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Sturdyvin is characterized by hospitality and an 
atmosphere of cheer and comfort. They have lived long and worthily and 
have witnessed the transformation of Champaign County from a vast prairie 
district into one of the garden spots of the world. 

THEODORE L. BLOCK. To accomplish as much as Theodore L. Block ac- 
complished in Champaign County demands not only phenomenal energy but 
a ruggedness and integrity of character that in no small degree accounts 
for the esteem in which he is held as a citizen as well as a business man. 

Mr. Block was born in Poland, October 3, 1850. He is a son of 
William and Minnie (Cornelius) Block. Several generations before he was 
born the ancestor of the family moved from the district bordering on the 
Baltic Sea into Poland, and thereafter the family was identified with the 
agricultural interests of that unhappy country until William Block sold 
his possessions there and immigrated with his family to America in 1857. 
On the 18th of May in that year they landed in New York City and pro- 
ceeded directly West until they arrived in Champaign County. Here 
William Block bought a farm three miles south of Sidney, and though a 
stranger in a strange land he was successfully identified with farm manage- 
ment and local affairs. He spent the last fifteen years of his life retired 
at Champaign, where both he and his wife died. Theodore L. Block was 
the only child of his mother, and his father by a previous marriage had a 
son August, who is still living at Sidney in Champaign County. 



640 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Theodore L. Block was six years old when the family came to America, 
and he practically grew up in Champaign County and profited by attend- 
ance at the local schools. At the age of twenty-one he showed his energy 
and ambition by renting a farm ijrom his father and entering actively into 
the ranks of agriculturists. One success led to another, and by years of 
toil, accompanied by shrewd business management, Mr. Block was in a 
position where he might have retired with a liberal competence a number 
of years ago. He did in fact retire from active farming in 1901. How- 
ever, his business interests have been wonderfully prospered, and at the 
present time he owns 760 acres of the fertile soil of Champaign County, 
while in Vermilion County in this state he owns 390 acres and 1,440 acres 
in the State of Arkansas. He is also half owner in a bank and elevator at 
Indianola in Vermilion County. In 19023Ir. Block built his fine home at 301 
East Park Avenue in Champaign and he lives there with his family and has 
every material comfort and every congenial association which he could desire. 

Mr. Block married Mary P. Block, a native of Germany. They are 
the parents of five children : Clara D., wife of L. E. Hartzig, of Lafayette, 
Indiana ; Richard A., of Indianola, Illinois ; Rosa A., wife of Rev. George S. 
Gerhold, of Hamilton, Ohio ; Edgar W., of Indianola, Illinois ; and Nora A., 
wife of Roy Zenke, of Indianola. Mr. Block is independent in his 
political affiliations. While living in the country in Champaign County he 
was a school director for over thirty years. He is a member of the Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd Fellows and his church is the German Evangelical. 

J. H. BLUE. Many years have passed since Mr. and Mrs. Blue took up 
their residence in Champaign County and began their careers as progressive 
farmers, and at the present time they live in the comforts of a good town 
home at Rantoul. In the meantime their children have grown up, most of 
them have married and have homes of their own, and Mr. and Mrs. Blue 
are able to take the greatest satisfaction out of the large family circle that 
surround them. 

Both of them are natives of Germany. J. H. Blue was born in the little 
Town of Leer on the River Ems near Hanover, Germany, one of the seven 
children of Henry A. and Alma J. (Buscher) Blue. His father was a sailor 
and lost his life at sea. At the age of thirteen J. H. Blue asked permission 
of his school teacher to leave school and begin an apprenticeship as a sailor. 
The family lived on the sea coast and the activities of the sea naturally 
appealed to all the boys of that district. Some time later he and a young 
Scotchman came to America for the purp'ose of entering the United States 
Navy. The North was then engaged in the struggle with the South over 
slavery. They landed at Boston from the sailing vessel Kensington, and the 
first news they heard was that peace had been declared, General Lee having 
surrendered his sword to General Grant. The boys then shipped as ordinary 
seamen on a full rigged schooner from Boston to Philadelphia, carrying a 
load of coal. On returning to Boston the captain was so pleased with their 
services that he offered to ship them as able seamen. The Scotch boy left 
for other work, bu| Mr. Blue remained and sailed with his captain for eight 
months up and down the coast from Philadelphia to Baltimore. His last 
voyage was made from Baltimore to Rio de Janeiro, South America. He 
carried on his out voyage a load of flour, which was exchanged for coffee on 
the Brazil plantations. 

In the meantime his brother Anton Blue had come to America and 
located at Thomasboro in Champaign County. He wrote to J. H. Blue 
describing the fine country of eastern Illinois and requesting the pleasure 
of a visit. J. H. Blue then came to Champaign County, but his preferences 
were for the eastern states. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 641 

In the meantime, in 1876, Mr. Blue had married in Germany Miss Lena 
0. Saathoff, who was born in Germany in 1850, a daughter of Oltman and 
Luecka B. (Ammerman) Saathoff. In that year Mr. and Mrs. Blue came 
to America and went direct to Champaign County. For twenty years 
Mr. Blue and his wife lived as renters but prospered greatly owing to the 
possession of habits of thrift and industry characteristic of their country- 
men. Later they bought eighty acres of land four miles south of Eantoul, 
paying $70 an acre. Mr. Blue had onry $200 to make his first payment, but 
in a few years had his home paid for and finally, in order to provide greater 
scope for the efforts of his growing sons, traded the eighty acres for 173 
acres. 

Mrs. Blue is the mother of eleven children, named Oltman, Henry, 
Louis, Alma, Jane, John, Ben, Herman, Anthony, Fritz and Dee. They 
were all educated in the district schools of Champaign County. Oltman 
married Angel Thompson, and they live on a farm in Champaign County. 
Their four children are John, Anna, Lena and Bertha. Henry married 
Katie Hineberger, and their family consists of Alma, Mabel, Lee and 
Clarence. Louis married Bertha Cook, and her two children are Elden and 
Glenn. Alma is the wife of William Meuser and is the mother of three 
children, Minnie, Herman and Gertrude. Jane married Gustave Meuser, 
and their children are Augusta, Albert, Eosa and John. John Blue married 
Alma Hanson. Ben Blue married Lucy Brucker and has two children, 
Chester and Opal. Herman married Rosa McClelland and has one child, 
William. Anthony took for his wife Ola McClelland, and their two children 
are Ruby and Kenneth. Fritz Blue married Anna Nelson. Dee, the 
youngest of the family, is the wife of Herman Nylen, a barber at Rantoul, 
and they have one son, Johnnie Morton Nylen. 

Mr. and Mrs. Blue are active members of the German Evangelical 
Church at Flattville and their children were baptized in the same church. 
Politically they are active supporters of the Republican principles and vote 
the Republican ticket. Mr. and Mrs. Blue have known the usual trials and 
hardships of people who must struggle to gain a living and establish a home, 
but their energy has brought them ample success. In 1913 they wisely 
started to retire from the farm and bought a beautiful and attractive little 
home in the northwest quarter of Rantoul. They have lived to see many 
changes occur in Champaign County and have themselves contributed some- 
thing to the wonderful transformation that has occurred on these Illinois 
prairies in the past forty years. Both of them are fine types of the American 
citizens, appreciative of the greatness of this country and extremely loyal to 
the flag. In 1900 Mrs. Blue and her son Louis went back to Germany to 
visit the old home, and later Mr. and Mrs. Blue enjoyed a similar trip. 
They crossed the ocean both times on the liner Barbarossa. Inevitably they 
compared the scenes of their youth and their native country with America 
and they came home with loyalty to their adopted land increased and 
strengthened. 

JOSEPH E. McGuRTY is one of the successful business men of Cham- 
paign, where in the past seventeen years he has built up a large livery 
enterprise and also a well conducted automobile business. He comes from 
the country district and was a farmer prior to his business career. 

Mr. McGurty was born at Colfax, Illinois, December 11, 1869, a son of 
Hugh and Sarah (Reagan) McGurty. Both parents were natives of Ire- 
land. His father when six years of age went with his parents to Canada, 
locating near Montreal, where he grew up, and about 1859 he came to 
Illinois and soon afterward located on a farm in Champaign County. In 
1861 he enlisted in the Union Army, in Company E, Ninety-seventh Illi- 
nois Volunteer Infantry, and served three years and six months. He lived 



642 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

a long, useful and honorable life and died at Champaign, June 2, 1897. 
The widowed mother is still living in Champaign. There were six children : 
Anna, of Champaign; Catherine, at home; John, deceased; Joseph E. ; 
Agnes, at home; and James, deceased. 

Joseph E. McGurty grew up on the farm, was educated in the local 
schools, and was a practical farmer on the old homestead until he was 
twenty-five years of age. For three years he had some mercantile experience 
in the department store of F. K. Robeson, and then engaged in the livery 
business at Champaign. In 1909 Mr. McGurty put up a large barn, 
60x130 feet, and two stories. It contains a complete equipment of horses 
and he has gradually perfected a first class automobile service. 

Mr. McGurty is a Republican in politics and was for two years street 
commissioner of Champaign under 0. B. Dobbins. He and his wife are 
members of the Church of the Holy Cross, and he is affiliated with the 
Knights of Columbus, the Woodmen of the World, the Royal Arcanum, 
the Sons of Veterans and the Mystic Workers. He was married August 12, 
1902, to Miss Anna McGraw, a native of Champaign County. Her parents, 
James and Ann (McGraw) McGraw, were both born in Ireland and are 
both now deceased. Her father was for many years employed as a 
machinist and boiler maker in the Big Four Railway shops. 

THOMAS GORDON. As a farmer and farm manager Thomas Gordon is 
easily one of the 'leading figures in Champaign County. He has acquired 
and developed and superintends through his tenants and managers an estate 
of 975 acres in Compromise Township. For a number o"f years Mr. Gordon 
has lived in the Town of Penfield, and goes out from there almost daily to 
look after his business affairs. 

Mr. Gordon is a native of Aurora, Illinois, a son of John and Mary 
(Whalen) Gordon. Both of them were natives of Ireland and came to 
America in early life. When Thomas was about ten years of age they set- 
tled in Champaign County, where their family of five sons and three daugh- 
ters were educated in the local schools. 

In 1906 Thomas Gordon gained a capable companion and helpmate 
for himself in the person of Miss Blanche Hobbins. She was born at 
London, Canada, daughter of Daniel and Julia (Farmer) Hobbins. Her 
father was a Canadian farmer and there were just two daughters in the 
family, namely, Mary and Blanche. Mary is the wife of Mr. Crunican of 
London, Ontario. Mrs. Gordon has a cousin, Sergeant R. J. Farmer, who 
is a graduate of the London Medical College, and is now in the English 
Navy on the Salmon. Mrs. Gordon was eleven months old when her father 
died and her mother, desiring to give her daughters the best of advantage, 
sold the farm and moved to the City of London, Canada. Her daughters 
were pupils in St. Peter's separate school and from there entered high school 
and later were students in the London Collegiate Institute while Mr. F. W. 
Merchant was principal. Mrs. Gordon graduated with honors in 1899, and 
having taken special training with a view to becoming a teacher went to 
North Dakota and taught at Elm Point, Freement and Crystal. At Crystal 
she was assistant principal in the high school under W. R. Decker, the prin- 
cipal. She had the satisfaction of seeing the entire class successfully pass 
their examinations, a fact she was congratulated upon by the board. Aftpr 
completing her last term there and before returning to her home in Canada 
she stopped in Champaign County, Illinois, to visit her uncle, Cornelius 
Clifford. While there she met the young man Thomas Gordon, and their 
acquaintance ripened into matrimony. They were married in St. Lawrence 
Church at Penfield in September, 1906. The ceremony was performed by 
Rev. Father Quirk, a warm personal friend of Mr. Gordon, both young men 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 643 

being of the same age. Father Quirk came from Ottawa, Illinois, to solem- 
nize his friend's marriage. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gordon then located in Penfield, a location that allows 
Mr. Gordon to superintend his several farms with the greatest convenience, 
at the same time allowing his family the advantages of town life. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gordon are the parents of five children, four sons and one 
daughter, John Anthony, Daniel Nicholas, Thomas Cornelius, Lawrence 
Ignatius and Mary Angela. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon are active members and 
liberal supporters of the Catholic Church. In politics Mr. Gordon is a 
Democrat and a great admirer of President Wilson, believing him to be the 
man of the hour and the American best fitted to guide the nation through 
the strenuous and critical times of the present. Mr. Gordon has served a 
number of years as school director and has done everything in his power to 
make the schools what they should be as institutions for the education of the 
future generation. It was his good fortune to secure for his wife a woman 
of thorough education, culture and refinement, and she has been a big factor 
in his success and standing in the community. Mr. and Mrs. Gordon have 
a home of noted hospitality, and they enter heartily into all social and 
community affairs. Mr. Gordon's parents have long since passed away, but 
the name remains today, as always, one entitled to the complete respect of 
the community with which it has been identified for so many years. 

AECHIE ERNEST STRODE. One of the important industries of Cham- 
paign is the tent and awning business which for a number of years has 
been carried on by the Strode family. The owner and proprietor of the 
business at present is Archie Ernest Strode, who gave up his active trade 
as a boiler maker to take charge of this business at the time of his fathers 
death. 

Mr. Strode was born in 'Bristol, England, May 11, 1879, but was 
brought to this country when a child of about four years. His parents, 
George and Elizabeth (Frank) Strode, were both natives of England. 
His father died March 4, 1915, and his mother in 1901. The family 
came to Champaign in 1883, and George Strode established the present 
tent and awning business in 1905. There were five children in the family : 
Frank, of Champaign; Cclia, widow of Thomas Dodsworth of Champaign; 
William, who died in 1892; Bessie, wife of W. E. Lott, of Flint, Michigan; 
and A. E. Strode. 

In 1895, at the age of sixteen, and after completing his education in 
the local schools, Archie E. Strode began learning the boilermaker's trade. 
He still has his card of active membership in the Boilermaker's Union. 
He spent about four and a half years in the shops of the Illinois Central, 
one year with the Santa Fe, and two years with the Big Four Railway 
Company. He was not only a successful and able workman, but also 
gained a thorough knowledge of the business end of the work. He finally 
entered the service of the Kennicott Company, construction engineers, and 
traveled over thirty-eight different states for that firm, representing them 
even in old Mexico. After giving up traveling, Mr. Strode returned to the 
service of the Big Four Railway Company, and was in their shops from 
1907 until November, 1911. He then went into business with his father 
and at the time of the latter's death took active charge of the tent and 
awning business, which he developed to one of the considerable industries 
of the city. 

On January 29, 1908, Mr. Strode married Laura Gundlock, a native of 
Champaign. They have one son, Orvil George, born March 5, 1910. Mr. 
Strode is independent in his political actions. He is a member of the 
Foresters, the Federation of Labor, the Labor Day Association, belongs to 
the Chamber of Commerce and his church home is the Episcopalian. 



644 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ABBAHAM GRAHAM. The quiet life and substantial accomplishments 
of the farmer have been the lot of Abraham Graham, who is now living in 
the town of Penfield, retired from the strenuous labors which marked his 
early youth. Mr. Graham has been identified with Champaign County 
almost half a century, and his life record is one that will be read with 
pleasure by his many friends and acquaintances as well as by his family. 
He long ago accumulated sufficient to protect him against the days that are 
to come, and the respect in which he is held is no less than his material 
accomplishment. 

Mr. Graham is a native of the Emerald Isle, born in County Monaghan, 
December 27, 1838, a son of Hugh and Sarah (McMahon) Graham. He was 
the third of nine children, six sons and three daughters. He acquired an 
education in his native country and at the age of nineteen determined to 
take advantage of the wonderful opportunities of America. Accompanied 
by a cousin, Miss Eosa Martin, he sailed on the ship Aurora and five -weeks 
and three days later arrived at Castle Garden, New York. From there he 
went to Providence, Ehode Island, and for nine months during the panic 
of 1857 worked in lumber yards. He then became a farmer at Glencove in 
Queen's County on Long Island, but three years later came west to Illinois, 
stopping first at Buffalo. Later he joined a cousin at Illiopolis and worked 
on a farm there for several years. 

On February 26, 1867, Mr. Graham married Miss Anna E. Welsh. She 
was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Adam and 
Mary (Craten) Welsh. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Graham began 
life near Illiopolis, and two years later, in 1869, came to Champaign 
County and located in that part of the original Kerr Township that is now 
Compromise Township. Here with the characteristics of industry and 
perseverance which he inherited from his Irish forefathers, Mr. Graham' 
began work and energetically developed a permanent home. His first pur- 
chase was eighty acres of raw prairie land costing $10 an acre. At that 
time the entire township had only one schoolhouse. With the passing of 
years there came many notable improvements, including commodious build- 
ings. Mr. Graham set out 107 apple trees and numerous native forest 
trees. The latter are now lofty trees and stand as a monument to his long 
and prosperous life in this section. 

Eight children were born to their marriage : Sarah A., Mary E., Ella, 
Catherine, Francis, Celia, Gertrude and Nora E. The daughter Gertrude 
died at the age of twenty-two. Sarah A. married Thomas Buck, a farmer 
of Compromise Township, and their nine children, seven sons and two 
daughters, are named Francis, Joseph, Arthur, Edward, Harold, Mary, 
James, Charles and Helen. Mary E. Graham became the wife of James 
McKeon, and they live near Eantoul. Their children are Ellen, Anna, 
Marie, James, Loretta and Gertrude. Ella "Graham is the wife of James 
Kelley, and is the mother of Michael, now a United States soldier, William, 
Anna, Cletus, John, James, Paul and Joseph. Catherine Graham married 
John Harney, and their children are Thomas, Wilfred, Margaret, Edward, 
Emmett. Francis Graham married Emma Buck, and their children are 
Agnes, Gertrude, Maude, Francis, Thomas, Raymond and Gilbert. Nora E. 
Graham is the wife of Bannis Mahew. Her children are Floyd, Idell, 
Ruth, Russell, Arthur and Charles. Celia Graham has never married and 
since her mother's death in 1884 has remained at home and is now her 
father's capable executive in the management of the home. Mr. Graham 
is the patriarchal head of a large household, including forty grandchildren. 
During all these years since his wife's death Mr. Graham has lived among 
his children and friends and has so lived as to make his influence a factor 
in the community without which things would not have been as they are 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 645 

today. Having reared a family of capable children and seeing his grand- 
children growing up true types of American boys and girls, he can properly 
feel that his life has been a success. In politics he renders support to the 
Democratic party and it is his belief, shared in by so many other thousands 
of Americans, that President Wilson is the man for the position and will 
safely bring the ship of state through troubled waters. Mr. Graham has 
always been a Catholic and is a liberal supporter of the church at Penfield. 
Having come to Champaign County a young man with little capital and 
having made a success here, he is attached to the county by the strongest 
ties of loyalty and affection. 

J. S. MASON, M. D., who was graduated in medicine over twenty years 
ago, has found his time and abilities more and more taxed as a. competent 
physician and surgeon, and in that field he ranks among the foremost in 
his section of the state. Doctor Mason is a Fellow of the American 
College of Surgeons, an honor conferred only upon surgeons of distinctive 
rank and attainment. 

He was born at Newark, Ohio, May 22, 1868, a son of Jacob W. and 
Elizabeth (Smith) Mason, both natives of Ohio. His father came to 
Vermilion County, Illinois, in 1881 and followed farming all his active 
career. There were six children : J. Smith, a lumber dealer and hardware 
merchant at Oakwood, Illinois; Frank M., a physician practicing at Ross- 
ville, Illinois; Dr. J. S. Mason; Leora, living at home and a school 
teacher ; Archie R. ; and Etta Florence, at home with her parents. 

Doctor Mason grew up on a farm, attended country schools, and when 
about eighteen years of age began teaching in the country. This vocation 
he followed five years and in the meantime took special courses in a 
Normal school and acquired a first grade teacher's certificate. It was 
through his individual earnings that he paid his way until graduation 
from medfcal school. He took up the study of medicine privately, and 
afterwards entered the Northwestern University School of Medicine at 
Chicago, where he was graduated M. D. in April, 1894. Doctor Mason 
practiced five years at Penfield, Illinois, and about six years at Rantoul, 
but since 1906 has been located with residence and office in Urbana. 

Doctor Mason formerly served as Champaign County Medical Society's 
president and is now president of the Twin City Clinical Medical Society. 
He is a Mason, Knight of Pythias, Elk, a Democrat in politics and a 
member of the Baptist Church. 

February 16, 1897, he married Lena 0. Warner, daughter of Ed. B. 
Warner. They have four children : James Bryant, Edward William, 
Elizabeth and Robert Stephen. 

SAMUEL HENSON LITTLE. Among those substantial people of Cham- 
paign County with whom industry has been the keynote of their lives and 
successes a family of special interest is that of Samuel H. Little. Mr. and 
Mrs. Little are now retired from the active responsibilities of farming and 
reside in a comfortable brown cement block home on Sangamon Avenue in 
Rantoul. 

Mr. Little was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, a son of John and 
Charlotte (Coon) Little. His parents were natives of Ohio, and after 
coming to Illinois they spent their lives as farmers. Samuel H. Little was 
educated in the district schools of Champaign County. 

At the age of twenty-six he married Miss Jessie Babb. Mrs. Little was 
born in Staffordshire, England, a daughter of Charles and Eleanor Babb, of 
a well known family represented in Champaign County. Mrs. Little was 
educated in the district schools of this county and attended high school at 



646 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Rantoul. After their marriage they moved to Vermilion County and for 
three years were farmers on rented land. They then returned to Champaign 
County and continued renting for five years, and by the exercise of their 
native thrift and good judgment had by the end of that time sufficient capital 
to buy a farm of 120 acres. For this land they paid $71 an acre. Then 
followed other years of industry and with increasing prosperity until they 
had accumulated an estate of 243 acres five miles southwest of Rantoul. 

This large farm was acquired at the same time that children and other 
responsibilities were absorbing much of their energy. Six children were born 
into their home, three of whom died in infancy. Those still living are 
Nellie, Arthur and Roscoe. These children were educated in the Gray dis- 
trict school. Nellie married Earl Fletcher, a farmer nine miles south of 
Rantoul. They have three young daughters, Alice, Edna and Louise. Arthur 
Little is a practical young farmer and manages his Grandfather Charles 
Babb's place two and a half miles east of Rantoul. Arthur Little married 
Edith Putnam of Condit Township, and their two sons are named Charles 
and Ray. Roscoe lives on and is manager of his father's homestead. By his 
marriage to Mabel Johnson of Rantoul he has two children, Ruth and Paul 
Henson. 

Mr. and Mrs. Little took great pains with the education and early train- 
ing of their children and instilled into their minds the principles of integrity 
and industry and fitted them for good citizenship. 

Mr. and Mrs. Little are active members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at Rantoul, and their children are of the same faith. They have 
always done all they could to promote and support church affairs, especially 
at Beulah Chapel. Earl Fletcher, their son-in-law, was chosen superintend- 
ent of the Sunday school there, and altogether they have aroused a spirit of 
Sunday school work which now gives a membership of 110 and is one of the 
best Sunday schools in the county. 

Mr. Little has served as school director, and has worked for the benefit 
of good education in his community. He is a member of the Woodmen of 
the World. In 1914 Mr. and Mrs. Little decided to remove from their farm 
to Rantoul, and they are now taking life somewhat at leisure in their com- 
fortable residence on Sangamon Avenue. Mrs. Little is a pleasant, cultured 
woman, has distinguished herself as an excellent home maker, and is espe- 
cially fond of flowers. She inherits this love from her English grandmother, 
whom she remembers as a dignified white haired English matron owning a 
fine estate in England and with gardens of fine cultivated flowers. 

CHARLES BABB, while for many years a resident of Champaign County, 
is a cosmopolitan citizen, has traveled extensively over the New and Old 
World, and has not only earned hut has learned the wise use of financial 
independence. He is now living retired in a commodious and beautiful 
home at Rantoul and is one of the large land owners of Champaign County. 

Mr. Babb was born in Staffordshire, England, son of John and Mar- 
garet (Whyte) Babb. He grew up in his native country and in the year 
of the Chicago fire, 1871, came to this country with his wife and three 
children and located in Champaign County, six miles north of the city of 
Champaign. His three children were named Arthur, Jessie and Margaret. 
In Champaign County he engaged in farming, and possessing character 
and energy, he was soon on the high road to prosperity. At the present 
time Mr. Babb owns 535 acres of splendid soil in the vicinity of Rantoul. 

After he came to America another child was born and was given the 
name Anna. 

The good wife and companion of his early life in America was taken 
away from his side twenty-one years ago. Her maiden name was Eleanor 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 647 

Bunting, and she was also a native of England. Mr. Babb saw to it that 
his children had the best of educational advantages, and they attended the 
school at Thomasboro and also at Rantoul. The son Arthur, who died 
twelve years ago, married Alice Merchant, and he left two children, Jessie 
and Florence. The second child, Jessie, married Samuel Little, and their 
children are Nellie, Arthur and Roscoe. The daughter Margaret married 
Charles Merchant, and they live in Walnut, Bureau County, Illinois. Their 
two children are Bessie and Ira. 

In 1897 Mr. Babb married Mary Taylor. Mrs. Babb was born in Kin- 
cardine, Scotland, daughter of John and Helen (Gordon) Taylor. At the 
age of thirty-four Mrs. Babb came to America, but she is a world traveler 
and has always been delighted with ocean voyages. She enjoys the distinc- 
tion of having crossed the Atlantic thirteen times. Mr. Babb is also a 
thorough sailor and in 1917 he and his wife had planned another pleasant 
trip to Europe, but were hindered by the war. 

Mr. Babb is a born sportsman. When he goes to England he takes 
the greatest delight in participating in hunting trips and spends the sea- 
sons with some of his friends who own fine estates in the old country. 
Mr. and Mrs. Babb are active members of the Episcopal Church, liberally 
support the church causes, and Mr. Babb in politics is a Republican. He 
believes in supporting the principle rather than the party strictly as a party 
organization. Mrs. Babb also gives her support to the party which has 
produced Lincoln, McKinley and Garfield. 

Eleven years ago Mr. and Mrs. Babb removed from their farm to Ran- 
toul and have a commodious home a block south of the Illinois Central 
Depot. Mr. Babb's former extensive operations as a stock buyer made him 
widely known over this section of Illinois, and much of his business was 
transacted through Rantoul. Having worked hard in the prime of his 
career he is now able to enjoy with satisfaction his pleasant home on Ken- 
tucky Street and has hosts of friends in Illinois as well as in his native 
land. On the walls of their home at Rantoul are hung many fine views 
of Scotland and England, including representations of some of the large 
estates which they have visited. One of these is "Lumber Grange," owned 
by Mr. Babb's nephew, Alfred Wood. It is one of the stately old homes 
of England, has rustic fences covered with rambling roses, and is a place 
which would delight the eye of the sportsman and the landscape painter. 
Other views show the estates known as "The Croft" and "Littleover." Mr. 
Babb has collected many articles of interest both to themselves and their 
friends, and they have the parlor of their home furnished with finely carved 
Japanese furniture. 

PETER STEWART CAMPBELL came to Champaign County when he was 
a small boy, learned the trade in one of the shops of the county and 
for many years has been identified either with a newspaper establishment 
or with a printing shop of his own. He now has one of the principal 
job printing houses of Urbana. 

Mr. Campbell was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, April 18, 1868, a son 
of Archibald B. and Christina (Stewart) Campbell. He was one of 
seven children, named as follows : Alexander, deceased ; Jennie, wife of 
G. L. Baker, of Champaign; Mary, widow of Robert Leslie, living at 
Pittsfield, Illinois; John and William, both deceased; Peter Stewart; 
and Archibald, of Tolono. 

The father of these children was a drainage contractor and died in 
Scotland in 1872. The following year the widowed mother brought her 
family to America, and soon located near Tolono, where she lived until 
her death in 1916. Peter S. Campbell received his education at Tolono 



648 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

and in 1881 began learning the printing trade. He served his apprentice- 
ship in Champaign County and in 1887 went to Wichita, Kansas, where 
he spent about a year as a printer. On returning to Champaign County 
he became connected with the Urbana Herald, and was with that journal 
nine years. For a short time he was with the Champaign News, and then 
opened a shop of his own but sold out after six months. Then followed 
a relationship for nine years with the Urbana Daily Courier. On leaving 
the Courier Mr. Campbell opened a shop of his own and now has all the 
facilities as well as the experience for first class work in general com- 
mercial printing. 

He was married May 20, 1891, to Elizabeth Brown, of Eantoul. They 
have three children : Raymond B., William V., and Eleanor Pauline. 
Mr. Campbell is a Republican, a member of the Knights of Pythias and 
the Improved Order of Red Men, and he and his family worship in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

GEORGE DRISKELL. One of the farms that lend distinction and dignity 
to Champaign County as a center of the great Illinois corn belt is that 
of Mr. George Driskell in section 33 of Kerr Township. Mr. Driskell has 
been a farmer all his life, and he knows the business as only one can know 
it through years of practical experience and common sense application of 
his energies to the task at hand. 

Mr. Driskell was born in Warren County, Indiana, a son of Hiram 
and Anna (Black) Driskell. There were six children in the family, four 
sons and two daughters, Roland, George, William, one that died in infancy, 
Julia Ann and Hannah. Hiram Driskell was also a farmer, and brought 
his family to Champaign County when George was nine years of age. The 
family located on a farm at Sugar Grove in Kerr Township and the children 
attended the Sugar Grove school. Hiram Driskell and wife lived in this 
locality the rest of their lives. 

On February 12, 1871, Mr. George Driskell married Miss Samantha 
Mercer. They had been sweethearts for some time, but their parents 
opposed their attention and planned a different future for them. The 
young people thought they knew best, and determined to take the issue in 
their own hands. In the early winter of 1871 they attended a party at the 
home of a neighbor named Pattens. All the young people of that district 
were present. On the following day, instead of returning home, George 
and Samantha drove to Champaign and were married at the hotel. On 
returning home they received the blessing of their parents, and their long 
and prosperous married life shows that they made no mistake in this vital 
decision. 

Mrs. Driskell was born in eastern Ohio, a daughter of Aaron and Polly 
(Cecil) Mercer, her father a native of Virginia. Their ancestors were 
formerly from Scotland. Her parents were married in Ohio and there were 
five sons and three daughters: Solomon, William, James,' Joseph, Henry, 
Martha, Nancy and Samantha, who was the youngest. When Samantha 
was a small child the Mercer family came to Illinois and located in the 
Partlow settlement of Vermilion County. The children attended the Sugar 
Grove school and the Flagg school. Samantha finished her education in 
a school for young ladies at Paxton, Illinois, when Mrs. Buckley was 
principal. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Driskell started out for themselves 
on eighty acres which he inherited from his father. They located in their 
new home in the month of June, the month for brides, and they went at 
their task as home makers with youth, enthusiasm, courage and ambition. 
They lived there ten years and then removed to a part of Mr. Driskell's 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 649 

father's estate, and also bought adjoining land. At the present time the 
Driskell farm comprises 240 acres, and through his care and management 
many notable improvements have been made. The house has been remod- 
eled, a large barn has been built, and there is ample equipment for carrying 
on such a farm as a business. Mr. and Mrs. Driskell have planted many 
trees, flowers and shrubs and their home stands out as one of the pic- 
turesque spots in Kerr Township. Mr. Driskell's work has chiefly been 
as a grain grower and stock raiser. He has raised hogs on a large scale, 
some years as high as 150 head. One year the cholera struck this region 
and he lost over 100 hogs through this disease. 

A high degree of public spirit has characterized all of Mr. Driskell's 
activities in the community. He is widely known all over Champaign 
County, which he served fifteen years on the board of county commis- 
sioners. During that long public service he had a part in the building of 
nearly all the bridges along Middle Fork Creek, the largest being the 
Mercer bridge, and also the one east of his home. These bridges are a 
credit to the entire county. Mr. Driskell has also served on the school 
board and has helped make his district one of the best in the county. Mr. 
and Mrs. Driskell attend the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he 
is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, but is a man of broad views 
and believes that the special national executive is entitled to the support 
and confidence of every true American. Mrs. Driskell has done all she 
could to forward the prohibition movement in the county and state, and 
it is one of her most ardent hopes that nation-wide prohibition will be an 
accomplished fact in her lifetime. From such facts as have been here 
related it is possible to understand Mr. and Mrs. Driskell's high position 
in Champaign County, and it is not without good reason that they take pride 
in their country home, their family and the worthy influences that they 
have been able to set in motion for the benefit of the community. 

GEORGE SKINNER is one of the prosperous farm owners and well known 
citizens of Champaign County, now living retired at Urbana, and for his 
success the credit is due almost entirely to his individual efforts and his 
steadfast honesty and integrity. 

Mr. Skinner was born in Somersetshire, England, January 29, 1850, 
and was about four years of age when he accompanied his parents, 
Robert and Anna (Rich) Skinner, to America. The family first located 
near Elk Grove, northwest of Chicago, and in 1873 they moved to the 
vicinity of Homer in Champaign County, where Robert Skinner spent 
his last years and died in 1883. Robert Skinner and wife had four 
children: Amelia, who died in 1888; Rhoda, who died in 1913; George; 
and Henry, now a resident of Los Angeles, California. 

When George Skinner was fourteen years of age the family removed 
to Shelby County, Illinois, renting a farm there three years and after 
another year at Arcola they went to a rented farm south of Homer, where 
George Skinner remained five years. In the meantime his father had 
suffered a severe accident by a fall on the ice and he and his brother 
assumed many of the responsibilities connected with the management of 
the farm and the domestic upkeep. Mr. George Skinner eventually 
acquired land of his own and by systematic improvement and develop- 
ment continued his land holding interests until he is now owner of 204 
acres, constituting one of the best farms in Champaign County. Mr. 
Skinner has made his success by raising corn and oats, cattle and hogs. 
In 1893 he bought a fine home at 921 West Green Street in Urbana, where 
he is now living retired. In 1900 he bought another farm of 124 acres 
in St. Joseph Township. 



650 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. Skinner was married December 29, 1887, to Mary Havard, a 
native of Illinois, whose parents came from Wales. Mr. and Mrs. Skinner 
have one son, John E. Skinner, who is now attending the Camp Ground 
School at Biloxi, Mississippi. Mr. Skinner is a Republican, has served 
on the Board of Supervisors of Ayres Township, and has filled other minor 
township offices. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

HUGH A. KIRK. While it cannot be claimed for all Champaign County 
farmers that they live up to the opportunities afforded them, there are 
some of them whose progress and prosperity are well worth noting and 
whose modern methods have in the last few years almost revolutionized the 
industry. One of these wide-awake and progressive agriculturists is Hugh 
A. Kirk, whose finely cultivated fields are a credit to Harwood Township 
and whose thoroughbred stock have made his name known all over the 
county. 

Hugh A. Kirk was born in Champaign County, Illinois, and belongs to 
an old pioneer family of this section. His parents, James and Alice Kirk, 
were born in Ireland. The mother passed away some years ago, but the 
father survives, although the weight of years is heavy upon him. He is 
surrounded by loving descendants who tenderly minister to his wants. He 
was one of the early members of the Catholic Church at.Ludlow, reared 
his children in that faith and they have always followed its teachings. 

Hugh A. Kirk attended the parochial schools at Philo and St. Joseph, 
and the Paxton High School, and still later took a course in Brown's 
Business College. He has made a special study of scientific agriculture 
and has proved the value of such a course on his farm of 240 acres. His 
land has been made to produce abundantly through intelligent cultivation 
and he has been equally successful in other farm industries. He owns the 
magnificent black imported stallion Keota General, and raises Aberdeen 
cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. Additionally he gives a great deal of atten- 
tion to his valuable full blood Orpington chickens. For the proper accom- 
modation of this exceedingly valuable stock, Mr. Kirk has made wise 
provision. On his farm a certain system is followed, the old haphazard 
way of carrying on agricultural operations being obsolete here. Aside from 
all this the farm is well situated and well watered and drained, and through 
the introduction of modern comforts much of the old-time drudgery is a 
thing of the past. Fine shade trees are a part of the landscape and Father 
Kirk can remember when he set them out as saplings. 

Mr. Kirk was married in the Catholic Church at Ludlow on June 7, 
1916, Father Drumming officiating, to Miss Marie Deany, who was born 
in La Salle County, Illinois, and is a daughter of Daniel and Mary Deany, 
the former of whom was born in New Jersey and the latter in Illinois. 
They have one son, Harold Hugh Kirk. 

In politics Mr. Kirk is a Democrat and fraternally belongs to the Cath- 
olic Order of Foresters. The family is one that has always been held in 
high esteem in this section, its members being solid, representative people. 

U. G. NORMAN has found his work in life and has rendered his chief 
service during his residence at Champaign as a building contractor. Some 
of the principal buildings of the city have been erected by him. 

A resident of Champaign County most of his life, he was born in 
Wayne County, Indiana, April 14, 1867, a son of John Scott and Eunice 
A. (Stover) Xorman. His father was a farmer, and in 1869 removed to 
Champaign County, locating on a farm ten miles from Urbana, where he 
was engaged in general farming and in looking after the responsibilities 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 651 

and duties of a good citizen until his death in 1897. The mother died 
in 1912. 

The sixth of his parents' children, Ulysses G. Norman grew up in the 
country, attended the local schools, and was at home on the farm until 
he was twenty-two. Then for a year he farmed, and having acquired 
in the meantime a practical knowledge of carpentry he made his first 
venture in the building business by the purchase of a plat of land which 
is now known as the Norman Addition, and on which he built apartments 
and residences. After this initial success and experience he removed to 
Champaign in 1889 and now for nearly thirty years has been engaged in 
business as a contractor and builder. Among the more notable structures 
he has erected are the Dr. Howard Building, the Gazette Building and 
a number of the better residences. 

Mr. Norman married Miss Minnie Osborne, a native of Champaign 
County. Mrs. Norman was a teacher in the city schools of Champaign 
for five years and taught in the country a similar length of time. She 
is a daughter of Robert and Margaret (Henley) Osborne, her father a 
native of Ohio and her mother of Tennessee. Both parents are now 
deceased. Her father was a farmer and - building contractor. Mrs. 
Norman was next to the youngest of the family of six children. To their 
marriage have been born four children : Louise E., Helen Grant, Margaret 
A., and Hartwell Osborne. Mr. Norman is independent in matters of 
politics, and he and his wife are active in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
in which he is serving as a steward. 

DANIEL MOONEY, proprietor of a fine and valuable farm in section 18 
of Compromise Township, came to America from Ireland about the close 
of the Civil War, and has had a long and active career in America for 
more than half a century. 

He was born in the north of Ireland, a son of Peter and Mary (Graham) 
Mooney. His parents died in the old country when Daniel was about 
twenty years of age. He had the usual education given to Irish boys, 
and about the time his parents died, having heard much of the opportuni- 
ties of America, he came to this country, first joining his cousin, Patrick 
Grimes. From New York he came on to Illinois, having friends in San- 
gamon County, and was soon working at farm labor at wages of $20 a 
month. One of the great events with which he associates his coming to 
America was the assassination of President Lincoln at the close of the 
Civil War. 

Central Illinois was by no means so attractive or beautiful as old Ire- 
land, but Mr. Mooney had the true Irish grit and determination and 
determined to make the best of his circumstances. While working as a 
farm hand on the raw prairie there were many unpleasant things to contend 
with, including mosquitoes and flies, fever and ague. He was industrious, 
and in a few years felt justified in taking the next serious step in life. 

At Lincoln in Logan County, Illinois, he married Miss Margaret Kear- 
ney. After their marriage they rented land in Logan County and were 
soon making a good living for themselves and their increasing household. 
Five children came to them, Peter, Daniel, Margaret, Lydia and Anna. 
When Anna was ten months old the beloved mother entered into rest. 
Thus left alone in the world, with five orphan children, Mr. Mooney had 
many additional trials and responsibilities. 

He married for his second wife Mary Nolan, a native of County Tip- 
perary, Ireland. In the meantime Mr. Mooney had bought eighty 'acres, in 
Compromise Township of Champaign County, and here his best successes 
as a farmer and business man have been realized. In the course of time his 



652 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

estate grew to 2-iO acres, and it was improved with commodious farm build- 
ings and home, by the planting of fruit and shade trees, and the entire tract 
now stands as a monument to his industry. 

By his second marriage there were three children, two sons and one 
daughter, named Mary, Michael and John. The children were all educated 
iu the district schools, Mary subsequently continuing her studies in the 
Sisters school at Champaign, while Michael took a course in the Catholic 
College at Kankakee. 

The record of the children who have married is as follows : Peter 
Mooney married Anna Buck, and their three daughters and one son are 
named Stella, Kate; Daniel and Mary. Margaret Mooney is the wife of 
John O'Donnel. Lydia married Eussell Fitten and has four children, 
John, Frances and twins. Anna Mooney is the wife of Spence Raymer. 
Mary Mooney married John Coffey. Michael Mooney by his marriage to 
Rene Lynch has two sons, Patrick and Eugene. The sons Daniel and 
John are still at home with their father and have active charge of the 
management of the farm, whose cultivation and thrifty appearance testify 
to their progressiveness and energy in this business. 

Mr. Mooney is one of the^ public spirited citizens of Compromise Town- 
ship and has filled the offices of road commissioner and school director. 
He and his family are members of the Catholic Church at Penfield and 
in politics he is a Democrat of broad views and liberal in support of all 
good causes. His friends, and acquaintances in Compromise Township 
recognize in him a thorough gentleman and a man of absolute integrity, 
whose word is as good as his bond. 

FRANK KERN ROBESON. Of the many business establishments in 
Champaign County perhaps none has a wider connection with the families 
of this section of Illinois and a better reputation due to many years of 
successful business relations than the Robeson Department Store, founded 
and built up by the veteran merchant Frank Kern Robeson, who has the 
distinction of having developed the first real department store in the city 
of Champaign. 

While his success and position in the community are now so well 
established, it is noteworthy that Mr. Robeson did not always have an 
easy course and one free from obstacles. He was born in the state of 
Pennsylvania. His parents, Alexander M. and Jane (Kern) Robeson, 
were natives of the same state. Their ancestors had come to America 
prior to the Revolutionary War. Both the Robesons and the Kerns were 
engaged in the great iron industry of Pennsylvania until a short time 
before the Civil War. 

In 1863 Alexander M. Robeson and his family moved to the pineries 
of Northern Michigan. During the next winter they and four other 
families endured the hardships of frontier life. When navigation closed 
in the fall there was no communication with the outside world except mail 
every two weeks brought in on sledges drawn by dogs. When navigation 
opened in the spring the Robesons took the first boat, a sailing vessel, 
that left for Bay City, and thence proceeded by rail and by stage over 
corduroy roads to Rensselaer, Indiana. Rensselaer, now the county seat 
of Jasper County, was then a sparsely settled section in swamps and with 
no railroad communications. The Robesons became farmers in that 
vicinity. 

Many of the boyhood recollections of Mr. F. K. Robeson are of the 
old Indiana farm. He lived on the farm until past sixteen, and was 
educated in the country and county seat schools. His first experience in 
business was as clerk in a store at Logansport, Indiana. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 653 

One of the strongest points in personal character is ability to recognize 
and seize opportunity. After Mr. Eobeson had been clerking about two 
years he was offered a partnership in a store to be opened at Danville, 
Illinois. He accepted the offer, and thus came to Illinois and was at 
Danville nine months. He prospered there, but then went to Decatur, 
Illinois, and formed a business partnership which in eleven months time 
brought him near to the brink of disaster and he lost in it nearly all the 
money he had saved. 

.It was after this experience and when just past twenty-one years old 
that Mr. Eobeson came to Champaign, where he arrived in April, 1874. 
Here he opened a store on Neil Street in the first block north of Church 
Street. What he lacked in capital he made up in energy, pluck and bus- 
iness judgment. The small stock of merchandise grew with the growth 
of population, his success was soon recognized in the community, and there 
has never been a time when his business and his personal character has 
not been' recognized as important assets in the city. About forty years 
ago Mr. Eobeson moved to the David Bailey building. The store has a 
frontage at 219-221 North Neil Street, and the building runs back to a 
side entrance at 113-115 West Church Street. 

For many years his store has demanded more commodious quarters. 
To meet this demand for more room and more up-to-date housing, Mr. 
Robeson in the fall of 1915 began preparation for the construction of a 
new store building at the corner of Church and Eandolph streets. The 
building is 132x132 feet square, five stories and basement, modern through- 
out, and as nearly fireproof as possible to make it. It is a steel frame 
building with pressed brick walls. This is the largest store building in 
this section of Illinois, and in every feature it attests the rugged character 
and sterling integrity of the man responsible for it. 

Besides this large department store Mr. Eobeson has extensive agri- 
cultural interests, owning land in Champaign County, in South Dakota 
and in Iowa. A part of his land he rents out and a part he farms himself, 
employing his own help and directing the farm operations. His business 
as a farmer has been no less successful than as a merchant. 

Mr. Robeson married in 1897 Miss Hortense M. Bartholow, daughter 
of Dr. and Mrs. J. M. Bartholow, and a native of Champaign County. 
Dr. James M. Bartholow is a prominent physician of Urbana. After 
leaving college he enlisted in the Civil War and served until the close of 
that conflict. In 1869 he began his practice at Philo in Champaign 
County, but removed to Urbana in 1885. Dr. Bartholow was married 
May 28, 1867, to Florence Ford, of Macon City, Illinois. They had two 
children, Otho, a minister in New York; and Hortense, Mrs. Robeson. 
Mr. and Mrs. Robeson have two children : Frank Kern, who followed his 
high school graduation with a course at college, and Florence Louise 
Robeson. 

Mr. Eobeson is a Knight Templar Mason, also a member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks. His public spirit as a citizen has always been prominent. He 
enters whole heartedly into any plan for the general benefit of the com- 
munity. Mr. Robeson is a man of broad intelligence and pronounced 
convictions, and is never afraid to let his opinions be known. He stands 
for all that is best in community life, in business and in politics. He 
served on the building and finance committees that erected and paid for 
the University Place Church of Christ. For twenty years he was a 
member of the Republican County Central Committee and for ten years 
was chairman of that organization. He never sought public office, but 
on two occasions was induced to accept official honor, once in the City 
Council as alderman from his ward, having been elected without opposition, 

29 



654 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

and again as a member of the State Board of Equalization for a term of 
four years. Though repeatedly urged to accept other official positions 
he always declined. He prefers private life, his home, his business and 
his farm. In many ways Mr. Robeson is an ideal citizen. His friends 
are legion. Not even his most intimate friends are aware of the extent 
of his good works and good deeds. The keynote to his success has been 
hard work. He personally mastered the smallest details of merchandising, 
and from the details has risen to the power of constructive planning and 
the supervision of extensive interests. 

THOMAS H. LEATHERS, who for a number of years has stood second 
to none among the competent dental surgeons of Champaign County is 
an instance of a self-made man who came almost to the age of manhood 
without schooling or education and by sheer force of will and ambition 
qualified for a profession requiring a high degree of skill and intelligence. 

Doctor Leathers was born in Glensborough, Kentucky, June 30, 1870, 
son of William and Mary (Royalty) Leathers. His parents were both 
born in Kentucky, were thrifty farming people but of modest means. 
The mother died at the age of thirty-one and the father is now living in 
Montana. There were only two children, Doctor Thomas being the older, 
while his brother, Alfred, is manager of the Standard Oil plant at Nash- 
ville, Tennessee. 

The childhood of Thomas H. Leathers was spent on a Kentucky farm, 
also in the logging camps, and when he was seventeen years of age he 
began his education. He determined to get an education and he worked 
constantly to pay his tuition and his support while in school. He first 
attended school at Palmyra, Illinois, and subsequently completed a four 
years course in the Danville Normal in Indiana. When he had made up 
for early deficiencies in the way of a literary training, he entered the 
Louisville College of Dentistry at Louisville, Kentucky, and in 1898 
passed the State Board after two years of work and was graduated in 
1899. For three years Doctor Leathers kept his main office at the corner 
of Fourth and Jefferson streets in Louisville, but practiced throughout the 
contiguous country district. In 1902 he came to Champaign, and his 
reputation as a dentist has been steadily growing throughout the past 
fifteen years. Doctor Leathers now maintains one office and besides his 
individual skill and attainments he has surrounded himself with every 
modern equipment and appliance by which the skill of the dentist is 
immeasurably enhanced. 

Doctor Leathers is a man of thorough education and culture and besides 
extensive travel in this country has been abroad in Europe. In politics 
he is independent, is a member of the Masonic Order and the Benevolent 
and Protctive Order of Elks, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He was married August 28, 1900, to Minnie M. Crawford, a 
native of Champaign Coimty. 

PATRICK CONNOR. Every one in the Rantoul vicinity of Champaign 
County knows the home of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Connor. It is located in 
section 19, five miles northwest of Rantoul and near the schoolhouse to 
which Mr. Connor sent his own children and with which he has been 
officially identified. This is a fine farm, comprising 320 acres, and from 
the road the large white house is almost screened by the fine trees which 
surround it and most of which were planted and set out by Mr. Connor's 
own hands. 

All these worthy and creditable possessions are the result of Mr. and 
Mrs. Connor's self-sacrificing efforts in early days and continued good man- 
agement at. the present. Mr. Patrick Connor was born at Richmond, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 655 

Virginia, a son of Patrick and Catherine (Kane) Connor, who were natives 
of Ireland and came to America soon after their marriage in order to 
better their conditions in the New World. From Virginia they moved to 
Peoria County, Illinois. Their three children were Mary, Hannah and 
Patrick. 

Patrick, the only son, attended school in Peoria County, and soon 
after reaching manhood, in 1885, he married Mary Sullivan. Mrs. Connor 
was born in Logan County, Illinois, third in a large family of children born 
to Daniel and Catherine (Buckley) Sullivan. Mrs. Connor was six years 
of age when her parents located in Champaign County, and she obtained her 
education in the Ludlow Center school. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Connor lived on the old Connor 
homestead in Condit Township for seven years. They were ambitious for 
the future and had the energy and enthusiasm of young people, and thriftily 
put aside some of the surplus from each year's efforts until they were able 
to buy the nucleus of their present estate, consisting of 160 acres five miles 
northwest of Rantoul. For that quarter section they paid $65 an acre. 

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Connor were born nine children, two 
of whom died in infancy. The others were named Catherine, Mary, Irene, 
John, Patrick, Madaline and Helen. These children were educated in the 
nearby school, the Locust Grove school. Catherine was also a student in 
St. Joseph's Academy at Bloomington, and Mary was a pupil in St. Mary 
of the Woods at Terre Haute, Indiana. Irene graduated with honors from 
the Rantoul High School and fitted herself for teaching, being engaged in 
that work for two years in the Independence school in East Bend Town- 
ship. Catherine is now the wife of John Murray, a farmer in East Bend. 
Township, and their three children are named Anna Gertrude, Mary Louise 
and Connor. The other children, Mary, Irene, John and Patrick, remain 
at home and assist their father and mother in the management of the 
farm. All are bright and energetic boys and girls and have a good future 
before them. Three of the children are students in the Donovan Memorial 
School of Eantoul conducted by the Dominican Sisters. 

Mr. and Mrs. Connor attend St. Malachi's Catholic Church at Ran- 
toul, and their children were baptized and confirmed in that church. Polit- 
ically he votes the Democratic ticket. Proof of his public spirit is found 
in the fact that he was elected for a number of years as school director 
anu has been frequently honored with the confidence and esteem of his 
fellow citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Connor have done all in their power to pre- 
pare their children for efficient lives. Realizing and appreciating the value 
of music as a source of true culture they have given their daughters 
musical as well as literary training. 

Mr. Connor has achieved a position among the first of Champaign 
County's farmers and stockmen. He now has 320 acres of land, and among 
his improvements is a silo with a capacity of ninety tons. He has gained 
something more than a county-wide reputation as a breeder and raiser of 
Aberdeen Angiis cattle. In the off crop year of 1916 Mr. Connor raised 
4,500 bushels of corn, and at this writing still has most of it in his cribs. 
The market value of corn is now close to $1.60 a bushel. The Connor 
home has always been characterized by its generous hospitality. Mr. and 
Mrs. Connor have with all their hard work found time to perform their 
community duties and neighborly responsibilities, and have every reason 
to be proud of their home and the possessions they have gathered around 
them. Reference has already been made to the attractive feature of the 
fine trees in the door yard. These trees, planted by Mr. Connor himself, 
are maples, catalpas, box elders and a row of fine black walnut trees which 
now bear abundantly. All these things add to the real pleasure of life, 
and none are better qualified to enjoy such possessions than Mr. and Mrs. 
Connor. 



656 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ROGER E. ZOMBRO is one of the live and enterprising business men of 
Champaign, and after a number of years of practical experience as an 
employe graduated into the ranks of independent merchants and now 
conducts one of the most popular men's furnishing goods stores of the 
city, drawing his trade from the best classes of people. 

Mr. Zombro was born at Midland City, Illinois, October 16, 1880, a 
son of Jacob W. and Mary M. (Cheney) Zombro. His parents were both 
born at Mechanicsburg, Ohio. Jacob Zombro spent the last twenty years 
of his life in the insurance business, and he died at Weldon, Illinois. 
The mother died at Champaign in July, 1916. They were the parents 
of five children : Minnie, wife of B. F. Peltz, of Clinton, Illinois ; James 
B., of Logan, Utah; Janette, wife of J: H. Alsbury, of Maroa, Illinois; 
Edna, wife of George Reddick, of Clinton, Illinois; and Roger E. 

Mr. Roger E. Zombro began life with a fair equipment of education. 
He attended the common schools and lacked only three months of gradu- 
ating from the high school at Weldon, Illinois. On account of poor eye- 
sight he had to give up his studies, and soon afterward/ at the age of 
fifteen, he began acquiring a mercantile experience as an employe of 
William Gushard & Company at Decatur, Illinois. He was in that com- 
pany's dry goods establishment four years and then transferred his 
employment to McPherson, Edwards & Company in their dry goods store 
at Springfield, Illinois. After about two years at Springfield Mr. 
Zombro came to Champaign in 1901 and was successively connected with 
the dry goods stores of E. C. Willis, F. S. Robson and W. Lewis & Com- 
pany. With a wealth of experience, with credit acquired by his knowledge 
'and ability, and with some capital Mr. Zombro in 1909 opened his men's 
furnishing store at 604 East Green Street, and has been continuously in 
that location with a rapidly growing trade. 

On August 11, 1916, he married Miss J. Ethel Lediendecker, who was 
born in Champaign. Mr. Zombro is now precinct commissioner, is a 
member of the Country Club, the Civic Club, the Rotary Club, is a Repub- 
lican in politics, and is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge and the Benev- 
olent and Protective Order of Elks. 

ALEXANDER FUNKHOUSER. Some men go through the world, subject to 
its various experiences, doing their work well and accumulating property, 
but after all is said and done they apparently have not placed the proper 
emphasis upon life as living and have not accentuated the many interests 
which lie around them. Of those families of Champaign County that 
seem to have realized most adequately the breadth and fullness and depth 
of life and its possibilities perhaps none deserve mention more than the 
household of Alexander Funkhouser. Mr. Funkhouser is a prominent 
farmer near Rantoul, and his activities have been closely identified with 
Champaign County since boyhood days. 

He is a son of James and Rachel Funkhouser, both of whom were natives 
of Pennsylvania. The original ancestors of the Funkhousers were three 
brothers who emigrated from Holland to America in early days, and 
their descendants still have the sterling qualities that marked the family 
back in Holland. James and Rachel Funkhouser had only two children, 
Alexander and Sarah. 

Alexander Funkhouser was born two and a half miles from Greensburg 
in Decatur County, Indiana. He was eight years of age when he came 
with his parents to Champaign County. They arrived in this county Octo- 
ber 19, 1857. Here the family experienced the various hardships and 
privations incident to their day. They possessed powers of endurance and 
were always willing to sacrifice present comfort for the sake of future 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 657 

good, and thus they surmounted seemingly insurmountable barriers and 
came to take their place in the ranks of the sturdy tillers of the soil 
whose business in life is to make old mother earth yield her rich increase. 
The passing years have shown that their labor was not in vain. 

Young Alexander Funkhouser went to work in earnest to assist his 
father in cultivating the new farm in Champaign County. His first 
employment was in dropping corn. In those days such a thing as tiling 
fields was not known. The water frequently filled all the ditches and 
remained there a good part of the spring and early summer, and in order 
that the corn might not rot it had to be carefully dropped and covered on 
top of the furrows. Also as a barefooted boy he herded cattle on the 
Thomasboro flats, keeping a sharp lookout for the snakes that infested the 
place. He would quench his thirst by drinking water through a straw or 
reed from the numerous holes made by the cattle's feet. That way of 
drinking was a common custom in early days, and is said to have explained 
the reason why the inhabitants of Illinois were called "Suckers." 

As the boy grew to manhood he had an earnest purpose for the future 
and laid the foundation of his own home and fortune by his union with 
Miss Adie James. To visit these good people in their home today, which 
possesses all the marks of a plenteous comfort, and see their fine sons and 
daughters and witness the cheery atmosphere of home life, one would quickly 
decide Mr. Funkhouser had not made any mistake in the choice of his life's 
partner. 

Adie James was a daughter of Thomas J. and Almeda James, both 
natives of Indiana. The old home of the family was near Terre Haute. 
They early migrated to Champaign County. Thomas James died in Stan- 
ton Township of Champaign County. To their marriage were born four- 
teen children, and the seven still living are Adie, Mrs. Funkhouser; Alice, 
Gary, Lizzie, Chauncey, George and Hugh. The children of the James 
family all derived their education from the district schools. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Funkhouser took up their joint 
partnership as farmers. Through the strictest economy and by long con- 
tinued saving they were able to purchase their first land, which consisted 
of eighty acres. To this they added from time to time until they now own 
160 acres in Rantoul Township, 160 acres in Ford County and 150 acres in 
Vermilion County. 

Into their home and to gladden their hearts have come twelve children, 
eight sons and four daughters. Their names were : Effie, Allie, Homer, 
Isaac, Charles, Btsel, Otis, Clinton, Frederick, Earl, Lena and a daughter 
that died in infancy. Charles is also deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Funkhouser 
gave their children all the advantages to be obtained in the country school 
district and later sent them to high school at Rantoul. 

The daughter Effie was for four years a successful teacher in Champaign 
County and married an educator, G. E. Wright, and they now live in 
Des Moines, Iowa. They have a child, Cecil, a bright and energetic boy, 
who for two years filled the position of page in the Statehouse at Des 
Moines. He is an independent little fellow and began his business life as 
a newsboy and since the age of ten years has done his own banking. 

Allie is the wife of L. F. Ledclerboge, a resident of Bloomington, Illi- 
nois, from which city he travels as representative for the Portable Elevator 
Company. They have two sons, Lloyd and Clifford. 

Homer married Miss Cora Moudy, and they live at Gerald, Vermilion 
County. The town of Gerald takes off eight acres from their farm. Their 
children .are named Merle, Doris, Eugene, Lenore, Margaret, Christine and 
Emory. 

Isaac Funkhouser married Sadie Hartsock, and he lives on the old 
Funkhouser farm. They have a son, Marion. 



658 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Etsel, who lives in Somer Township, married Julia Tracy, and they 
have one son, Richard Alexander, who was born on his grandfather's birth- 
day and was given the name of his grandfather. 

Otis, who is a farmer near Gifford, married Evelyn Bailey. 

Clinton is a farmer near Rantoul and married Opal Mulvany. 

Lena is the wife of Claud Ziegler, and they live on a farm in Ford 
County. Their daughter was named Mabrie Wilson. 

Frederick married May Colwell. Earl remains at home. 

As the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Funkhouser married and left home 
the parents wisely exerted themselves so as to give proper opportunities to 
their sons and keep them at home and busy as long as possible. They 
therefore rented a 400-acre ranch, the old Richard estate near Rantoul, and 
that has proved a very wise arrangement, since it gives ample opportunities 
for the boys to practice agriculture and work out their destinies for them- 
selves without going away from home. 

The family are active members of the Christian Church at Rantoul, 
and in politics Mr. Alexander Funkhouser is a strong Democrat and believes 
the present incumbent of the White House is not only the man of the 
hour but the man whom destiny has marked out to be one of the greatest 
factors in the settlement of the problems of the world. Mr. Funkhouser 
is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of 
Pythias and the Woodmen of the World, and all his sons who have reached 
the proper age have membership in the Odd Fellows lodge and all are enthu- 
siastic workers in that fraternity. A portrait shows the picture of the 
father and seven sons wearing the regalia of Odd Fellowship, and this 
photograph indicates that the father as well as the sons have attained the 
stations of past grand masters. Mr. and Mrs. Funkhouser have lost no 
opportunity to lead exemplary lives before their family and instill in 
them principles of manly conduct and true American citizenship. Their 
hospitable home for years has echoed ringing laughter and merry voices 
of boys and girls, and it has been a center for the social gatherings of the 
neighborhood. Mrs. Funkhouser is a fine type of the American woman who 
believes in rearing her boys to fill places of usefulness in the great busy 
avenues of life and finds little satisfaction in the glories of war, which she 
believes is not the true field for American manhood. 

The jovial spirit of Alexander Funkhouser is contagious. Neither he 
nor his wife believe in growing old in spirit, and they always have a 
cheerful word for everyone. In 1916 Rantoul held a Halloween carnival 
pageant. All the participants were garbed in costume. Among them was 
a jolly old black mammy, gaily decorated in the bright colors so dear to 
the race. Her appearance on the street amid the revelers was hailed with 
hearty delight. She looked as though she had just emigrated from a 
southern plantation. Many guesses were made as to who she was. It 
was the signal for added mirth and pleasure when it was discovered that 
she was Mrs. Alexander Funkhouser, a gray-haired grandmother, with her 
heart young as in her girlhood days. At that carnival Mr. and Mrs. Funk- 
houser received a fine prize for having the largest family. 

WILLIAM 0. SMITH. For more than half a century a resident of 
Champaign County, William 0. Smith is known to the people of this 
section as a man who did his brave and efficient duty in the Civil W T ar, 
as an active and industrious farmer, and as one who in all the relations 
of a long and busy life has lived up to the best standards of citizenship. 
He is also known through his children, a number of whom now occupy 
worthy and honorable places in community affairs. 

Mr. Smith was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 5, 1839, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 659 

a son of S. B. and Mary Ellen (Sheperd) Smith. His father's native 
home was near Harper's Ferry, Virginia. William 0. Smith was one of 
a family of five sons and two daughters. In 1846, when he was seven 
years of age, the family removed to Sangamon County, Illinois, and rented 
a house in Sheldon's Row in the city of Springfield. For two years they 
had the distinction of living in the same house with Abraham Lincoln 
and his wife. The house was a double apartment, the Smiths occupying 
one side and the Lincolns the other. S. B. Smith served eighteen years 
as justice of the peace in Sangamon County. 

Mr. W. 0. Smith as a boy attended the Lake Creek District School 
in Sangamon County. After leaving the common schools and working 
for a year he realized the need of more education and saved and earned 
the money necessary to give him a course in the Springfield High School. 

While in high school he was invited to join a debating club. The 
rules of the club were that members should be called upon for extempore 
speeches, limited to fifteen minutes on any given topic. Failure to make 
a speech made the member subject to a forfeit or fine of twenty-five cents. 

When young Smith was first called upon for such an ordeal the chair- 
man reached in a box, as was the custom, drew out a subject for the 
speech and handed it to the young man. Much to his suprise the slip 
contained the one word, soap. That was a test of quick thinking and 
ready wit. Another factor was that young Smith was not troubled with 
many quarter dollars in those days, and he promptly waded into his 
subject. He elucidated every phase and fact concerning soap, and much 
to the amusement and delight of the audience. Finally the time was 
up and the president had to ring him down. About sixty-five years later 
Mr. Smith met in Springfield one of his old schoolmates, who after 
mutual greeting laughingly asked "Smith, how is soap in Champaign 
County?" 

Mr. Smith was a young man of twenty-two when the war cloud broke 
and deluged the country with hostilities. Filled with enthusiasm, he 
enlisted in his country's service at Springfield in 1861 and became a 
member of Company I, Twenty-ninth Illinois Infantry. This regiment 
it has been frequently said was the regiment that "put down the rebellion." 
He signed his enlistment papers August 7, 1861, at one o'clock in the 
afternoon. He immediately went home and bid his mother good-bye and 
next morning ate his breakfast at Cairo, Illinois. For nearly three years 
of his service Mr. Smith was employed as a United States scout. He was 
in many of the principal engagements, including Fort Donaldson and 
Fort Heniy, Pittsburg Landing or Shiloh, Black River, and many other 
scenes of carnage and bloodshed that have never effaced themselves from 
his memory. Even yet he shrinks from talking about the terrific side 
of war. It is only such men who can completely realize the tremendous 
sacrifices that were made in making this country a free and united people. 
He became a corporal in his company and was subsequently promoted to 
the post of deputy to a general. Finally General Grant took him to his 
headquarters and employed him there for two years. Some years later, 
when General Grant was in his second term as president, Mr. Smith 
visited Washington. Desiring to see his old general he presented himself 
at the door of the White House. The soldier on guard asked him to ' 
present his card. This Illinois veteran was not prepared with visiting 
cards and consequently was told that the President could not see him. 
It chanced that the President was close by, and recognizing the voice of 
the old soldier called him in and gave him his warm and characteristically 
kind greeting. They spent some time talking over old days in the army. 

Mr. Smith was one time taken prisoner but was paroled. Eleven days 



660 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN CQUNTY 

after the expiration of his term of enlistment he was mustered out at 
Natchez, Mississippi, and received his honorable discharge at Springfield 
August 27, 1864. He was under Capt. Samuel H. Russell, the brave 
soldier who subsequently accompanied General Custer on the expedition 
against the Indians in the Northwest and fell another victim to the frenzy 
of the red men under Sitting Bull in the massacre of 1876. 

After the war Mr. Smith engaged in farming in Champaign County 
and in 1865, at Mahomet, married Miss Louzsa Rea. Five children were 
born to them : Ida Lillian, Grace Eleanor, Jessie R., William 0., Jr., 
Mary Ellen. These children were well educated in the Ludlow schools 
and the Paxton schools. W. 0. Jr., after his education in these institu- 
tions studied law at Normal University three years, graduated, and has 
since practiced as a successful young attorney. He married Martha 
Whitcome and has one child, Raymond. The daughter Ida married 
Charles Hammerlin, and their children are Charles, Lew, Vera, Myrtle, 
Chester, Dewey, Rex and Clara. Grace E. is the wife of Charles Coon. 
Their children are Flossie, Bede, Carl, Lois, Lillian, Glen, Jay, Marian 
and June. Jessie R. is the wife of Charles S. Wallace. Mr. Smith now 
makes his home with this daughter, Mrs. Jessie Wallace, at Champaign. 
By a former marriage Mrs. Wallace has one daughter, Lou Iris, who 
married T. H. Doty, and they have one child, Robert Hurrel Doty. 
This great-grandchild, a great comfort and the pride of his great-grand- 
father, was born November 17, 1913. The daughter Mary E. married 
William Clark, and their children are William, Robert, Laurel, Evelyn, 
Richard and Opal. The Clark family reside in TJrbana. 

After a happy home life of nearly a half a century Mr. Smith's com- 
panionship with his beloved sharer of joys and sorrows was terminated in 
the death of Mrs. Smith on March 30, 1914. She was a loving mother 
and true and noble wife. Mr. Smith is a kind hearted and most hos- 
pitable man, and his long experience has made him the delightful com- 
panion of both old and young. One of his aims has been to make a new 
friend each day, and his motto, oft repeated and a constant abiding prin- 
ciple with him is "he who is armed with right is thrice doubly armed 
and need have no fear." 

GEORGE L. WATSON. There are pioneer names in Champaign County 
that so essentially belong to the development and progress of this section 
of Illinois that no history would be complete without reference to them. 
One ,of these names is Watson, and a worthy bearer of it is found in 
George L. Watson, a leading citizen and the owner of a large body of 
finely improved land situated in section 16 of Harwood Township. 

George L. Watson was born in Champaign County, Illinois, and is a 
son of Joseph and Rachel E. (Simpson) Watson, the latter of whom was 
born in Ohio. Joseph Watson was born in Ireland and was a son of 
William N. and Ellen (Patrick) Watson, born in County Kildare. The 
father belonged to the old order of Orangemen. When Joseph Watson was 
three months old his parents immigrated to America and finally settled 
at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later in Ohio. At that time there was a 
fine old custom prevailing whereby a son who remained with his parents 
and did a son's duty until he was twenty-one years old was then released 
from all responsibility, was given a horse and bridle and saddle and a God- 
speed and was sent out to test his own physical and moral strength with 
the world. When he reached his majority Joseph Watson received these 
gifts and bravely started out to find opportunity for himself. It was some- 
thing of an iindertaking in those days because of so many unknown dangers 
to be faced, but he started on his way from Ohio and traveled by horse- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 661 

back to Iowa, in the meanwhile paying his own way by labor and keeping 
his eye out for a desirable section in which to locate, finally deciding that 
Illinois would suit him best of all others. After his marriage, which took 
place in Indiana, he moved with his wife to Champaign County, Illinois. 
There were many hardships and no doubt he often remembered the story 
his father had told of his pioneer days in Ohio, when the loss occasioned 
by his horse, his one valuable possession at the time, caused him much 
distress. The horse had wandered away into the great surrounding wilder- 
ness and Grandfather Watson had to leave his wife alone in the little cabin 
for three days while he sought the animal and found it miles away. Such 
stories were not unusual and doubtless many like accidents happened to 
Joseph Watson in Champaign County. Here, however, he became a man 
of settled estate and public usefulness and his name is recalled with feel- 
ings of respect and veneration. Of his six children George L. was the 
youngest in order of birth. 

George L. Watson attended the public schools and grew to manhood 
in Champaign County. The Watsons had relatives who lived in Indiana, 
and it was while visiting them that Mr. Watson met the lady who subse- 
quently became his wife, and on December 31, 1889, he was married to 
Miss Elizabeth Josephine Short. Her parents were James and Amanda 
(Kemp) Short, the former of whom was a prominent farmer in Fountain 
County, near Hillsboro. He died from the effects of a fall when aged 
eighty years. He was a son of Aaron Short, of whom the story is told that 
it was through his plucky deeds that the name "Hoosier" was ever after- 
ward applied to Indiana, in which state he lived. It is said that at the 
early day when the canal around the Ohio Eiver was in course of con- 
struction in southern Indiana, all classes were to be found among the 
workmen. According to prevailing custom there was plenty of whiskey 
on hand and consequent frequent brawls. On one occasion a number of 
these half-drunken workmen decided to attack Aaron Short, the big Vir- 
ginian, Virginia being his native state. He was a Hercules, six feet tall 
and brave as a lion. He fearlessly faced his foes and one after another 
went down under his powerful, sledge-hammer blows. He had never 
studied any science of fighting but had a system of his own that had always 
proved effective. When he had seven men groveling in the dust at his 
feet it is said that he straightened himself, and swinging his brawny bare 
arms, yelled, "Who's here?" as much as to say, "Who is next to tackle 
me?" His companions, it is told, laughingly abbreviated the remark and 
named him "Hoosier," and applied it to the state he lived in. 

During the first five years of their married life Mr. and Mrs. Watson 
lived on the farm of an uncle, kelson Watson, Sr. They were industrious, 
frugal, ambitious and energetic, and soon found themselves able to pur- 
chase eighty acres of land situated in Harwood Township, four and a half 
miles south of Ludlow. In five more years they bought eighty acres more 
and at the end of another five years purchased an additional eighty acres. 
At a later date Mr. Watson inherited ninety-six acres from his father's 
estate and then purchased the interests of the other heirs, making his farm 
360 acres. Mrs. W'atson owns eighty acres in Indiana, a part of -her 
father's estate. 1 General farming and stock raising have been carried on, 
Mr. Watson continuing actively superintending all his industries until 
within recent years, since which time his son, Clarence Everett, has taken 
over the management and is ably continuing his father's methods and 
policies. 

Mr. and Mrs. Watson have had six children, namely : Laura E. and 
Raymond E., twins, who died in infancy; and Clarence Everett, Nora Esta, 
Fannie Josephine and George Joseph. Not only have these children had 



662 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

social advantages but their education has been carefully looked after. 
Clarence, Nora and Fannie all completed their eighth grade work in the 
Harwood Center district school on the same day and proudly brought home 
to their gratified parents their grade diplomas and also honorary diplomas 
for school attendance for eighteen months without once being absent or 
tardy. Subsequently Nora entered the Paxton High School and was 
creditably graduated therefrom in 1913. She is a very ambitious as well 
as intellectual young lady and has spent three years in Eureka College, 
preparing for educational work. The other children are doing equally 
well. Fannie has completed her first year, at the time of writing, in the 
Ludlow High School. Joseph, although only eleven years old, has no 
intention of being outdistanced by his sisters, and he, too, received a 
diploma for punctuality and attendance. 

Mr. and Mrs. Watson, in their desire to give advantages to their chil- 
dren and also to add to the attractions of home, have recognized the great 
place that music holds and the daughters have been carefully instructed 
and show talent in this direction. In 1915 Mr. Watson erected the fine 
residence that is the happy home. It is beautifully situated on a natural 
eminence, and is shaded by trees along the front and its attractive appear- 
ance elicits general admiration. Mr. Watson has also looked after the 
comfort of his family by installing a hot and cold water system, such as 
city residents enjoy and the house is lighted by gas. Eural life as Mr. 
Watson and family can enjoy it leaves little to be desired, for they have 
their mail delivered on the rural route and are connected in all directions 
through excellent telephone service. 

Politically Mr. Watson is a Democrat and he voices his faith in Presi- 
dent Woodrow Wilson as being the man to safely guide the nation through 
its present perils. Both he and son Clarence Everett are members of the 
Masonic fraternity, and Mrs. Watson is a member of the Eastern Star. 
Mr. Watson and family attend the Christian Church at Ludlow, afford it 
liberal support and take part in 'its benevolent and other missionary work. 

WILLIAM SULLIVAN has been a life long resident of Champaign County 
and has figured in business affairs as a printer, newspaper man, and in 
later years in the real estate and insurance business. He has one of the 
principal offices for the handling of real estate and insurance at Cham- 
paign. 

Mr. Sullivan was born at Urbana Illinois, February 12, 1862, a son 
of John and Ellen (McCann) Sullivan. Both parents were natives of 
Ireland, the father born in County Cork and the mother in County 
Limerick. John Sullivan came to America about 1855, and in 1857 
located at Urbana. Subsequently he removed to Champaign and built a 
tavern across the street from where the Illinois Central depot stands. 
This tavern was known as the Travelers Home. In many ways it had 
historic associations with the life of the times. The principal work out- 
side of farming then going on in this district of Illinois was railroading. 
The Travelers Home became headquarters for the newcomers in this 
section of Illinois, and John Sullivan's acquaintance with officials of the 
railroad enabled him to secure first employment for a large number of 
these newcomers, many of whose families still remain in and about Cham- 
paign to this day. The other class of patronage upon which the Travelers 
Home relied for its prosperity was entertaining the emigrants then travel- 
ing across the country seeking new homes in the West. Most of these 
travelers came and went in wagons, and the wagon yard and stables were 
important adjuncts of the old hostelry at Champaign. John Sullivan 
was still proprietor of this hotel at the time of his death, January 16, 1871. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 663 

He was survived by his widow, whose death occurred January 27, 1905. 
Of their five children, William Sullivan is the only one now living. Two 
daughters, Anna and Elizabeth, and one son, James, died before their 
father, and Nellie afterward. She was the wife of George Boys and left 
two children, Lila and Nellie. 

Besides the public schools of Champaign William Sullivan had the 
advantages of two years at St. Viator's College "at Bourbonnais, Kanka- 
kee County. He attended this school after his father's death. He was 
only nine years of age when his father . died, and after returning home 
from college he began learning the printer's trade with the old Times 
Printing Company. Later he was with the Champaign Gazette. In 1893, 
during the World's Fair year, Mr. Sullivan went to Chicago and was 
engaged in the tea and coffee business. The next year he returned to 
Champaign and resumed his connection with the Times in the printing 
department, and for ten years was reporter and city editor of that paper. 
He finally gave up the newspaper game to enter the real estate and insur- 
ance business, and he has been active in that line since 1904. 

For many years Mr. Sullivan was affiliated with the Democratic party 
and took an active part in politics. During recent years he has been 
independent as to politics. For five years he served as secretary of the 
chamber of commerce, and has' always taken his part in movements for 
the general good of the community. He is affiliated with the Modern 
Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias and the Court of Honor. 
On March 18, 1891, he married Miss Frances M. Trenchard, a native of 
Piatt County, Illinois. Six children have been born to their union : 
William J., now actively associated with his father in business ; Walter, 
deceased; Edna, at home; twins who died at birth; and Arthur T., also 
at home. 

THOMAS BUCK. Among the intelligent and thrifty farmers of Cham- 
paign County one whose name belongs high on the list is Mr. Thomas Buck 
of section 28, Compromise Township. 

Mr. Buck has spent most of his active life in Champaign County, but 
was born in Warren County, this state, a son of Eli and Catherine (Hogan) 
Buck. His father was born in Vermont and his mother in Ireland. 
When Thomas was four months old the parents moved to Champaign 
County, locating south of Gifford, where the children were all educated in 
the public schools. 

Thomas Buck grew up to industrious habits and responsible manhood 
and at the age of twenty-seven married Sarah Graham. She was born in 
Logan County, Illinois, and her father, Abraham Graham, was among the 
early settlers of the state. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Buck started 
life as farmers in section 28, south of Penfield, and here their work has 
been tested and the best fruits of their lives realized. They have a splendid 
farm of 166 acres, an attractive home, and have done much to beautify 
the land and render it homelike as well as valuable for farming purposes. 
Mr. Buck's parents in their later years moved to Penfield, and his father 
died there, widely recognized as one of the good citizens and kind neighbors 
of Champaign County. 

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Buck were born nine children : 
Francis, Joseph, Arthur, Edward, Harold, James, Charles, Mary and 
Helen. They made up a household of bright, energetic young people, and 
this is one of the households which has contributed most generously to the 
new National American Army, since three of the sons have enrolled as 
soldiers, Francis, Joseph and Arthur. Joseph graduated from the Penfield 
High School and afterward spent one year at St. Viator's College at Bour- 



664 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

bonnais, Illinois. From college he returned home and began a career as 
a farmer, having rented land. Francis Buck married Stella Collins, is a 
farmer living at Gerald, and has one son, Joseph Francis. 

Mr. and Mrs. Buck are active members of the Penfield Catholic Church 
and are among its liberal supporters. In his political views Mr. Buck is a 
Democrat, and is a man whose record in Compromise Township well enti- 
tles him to the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens. He has been 
a member of the school board and wherever possible has exerted his influ- 
ence in behalf of good schools, good roads and other improvements. He 
and his wife are active members of the Hibernian lodge at Penfield. 

Louis MITTENDORF. A number of the solid old business houses of 
Champaign perpetuate in their ownership old pioneer names of Cham- 
paign County, the undertaking establishment of Louis Mittendorf being 
a case in point. For more than sixty years the name of Mittendorf has 
been known and respected in this section, ever representing honest methods 
and sturdy industry, and every one who has business transactions with 
Louis Mittendorf can testify that he has dealt with an honest man. 

Louis Mittendorf was born at Champaign, Illinois, June 13, 1860. 
His parents were Christian and Hannah (Schneber) Mittendorf, both of 
whom were born in Germany. Early in the '50s the father came to 
Champaign County in company with Emil Dunlap, for whom he worked 
for nine years as gardener and nurseryman and then went into the same 
business for himself, purchasing five acres of land north of the town. 
This he improved and brought to a high state of cultivation, making of 
it a very profitable market garden and utilizing every inch in his frugal, 
efficient way, thereby accumulating a competency. To his marriage with 
Hannah Schneber eight children were born, as follows: Frank, who is 
deceased ; Lottie, who is the widow of William Kiler, of Champaign ; 
Christie, who is the wife of Jacob Ort, of Wahoo, Nebraska; Eeka, who 
is deceased; Annie, who is the wife of J. J. Dallenbach; Henry, who is 
deceased ; and Louis and Charles, both of whom reside in Champaign. 
The father of this family died March 28, 1906, and the mother in 1908. 

Louis Mittendorf resided with his parents, attending school as was 
convenient, and assisted his father until he was twenty-one years old, 
making himself very useful, as. he had charge of the delivery of produce 
to customers in Champaign. When his father retired in 1897 he suc- 
ceeded him and continued the business for ten years. He moved then to 
Champaign and in 1889 started a furniture and undertaking business 
and continued in both lines until 1914, when he sold the furniture depart- 
ment to C. A. Kiler and since then has confined himself entirely to under- 
taking. He has well appointed undertaking and funeral directing apart- 
ments at No. 134 West Park Street. For twenty-eight years he has 
sympathetically as well as efficiently served Champaign families, in the 
way that some time or other all families must be served, personally 
attending to all details, giving advice when it was welcomed and showing 
a friendly interest that often means so much in times of distress and grief. 

Mr. Mittendorf was married August 22, 1906, to Miss Mary McConney, 
who was born in Indiana, a daughter of Norris and Mary (Walters) 
McConney, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter at 
Urbana, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Mittendorf have two children : John 
Porter, who was born June 10, 1907, and Mary Jane, who was born 
November 21, 1908. In politics Mr. Mittendorf is a Eepublican and 
fraternally he is identified with several orders. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 665 

CAPT. THOMAS JEFFERSON SMITH, of Champaign, is one of the few- 
men still living in Illinois who made their first briefs and arguments in a 
court room prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. In many ways his 
has been a remarkable life. He began practice before the war, enlisted 
soon afterward and gave the best in him to the perpetuation of the Union, 
came out of the war with the rank of captain, and at once began practice 
at Champaign, where he has now lived for over half a century. 

Captain and Mrs. Smith never had any children. They were devoted 
companions during the long journey they had together in this vale of 
tears, and while they began struggling young people, they lived to enjoy 
much and the memory of their companionship is the sustaining thing in 
Captain Smith's life today. 

Future generations will know of the many ties that linked together 
Captain Smith and his wife because just recently Captain Smith has 
donated a fund of $215,000 to the University of Illinois for the erection 
of a building on the campus to be named the Tina Weedon Smith Music 
Hall. That building will be used exclusively as a home of music, and for 
years to come ,it will be a source of inspiration and a source of artistic 
culture to the thousands of students who yearly throng to this center of 
learning. , 

Capt. Thomas Jefferson Smith is a native of Virginia, having been 
born near Kingwood, in Preston County, July 4, 1836. His parents were 
Jacob and Cecelia (Shaw) Smith, both natives of Virginia. When 
Captain Smith was a small child his parents removed to Logan County, 
Ohio; locating on a tract of wild land and his father did the clearing 
necessary to make it a farm. In 1850 he removed to Bellefontaine, in 
Logan County, and lived there somewhat retired until his death in 1875. 
The mother of Captain Smith died in 1862. 

The fourth in a family of nine children, Captain Smith grew up on 
an Ohio farm. He took part in the sports and pastimes of his rural com- 
munity, and became strong in body and industrious from an early age. 
When he was only twelve years of age he was awarded the first prize in 
a plowing competition in which young men of twenty-one and twenty- 
two years of age were allowed to participate. 

His early education was limited by the advantages of the local high 
school. He qualified as a teacher and taught in Ohio until 1858, when 
he removed to Clay County, Illinois. In Clay County he continued teach- 
ing for a year, and in the meantime had studied law in private offices and 
in his leisure hours and was admitted to the bar in 1859. In November 
of that year this young attorney was elected county superintendent of 
schools in Clay County. He was the first Eepublican to enjoy such a 
distinction in Clay County. It had been the saying for many years that 
no Eepublican could be elected to office there. Captain Smith made a 
good campaign and his qualifications were so thoroughly admitted that he 
was elected to the office by a majority of 240 votes. He filled the office of 
county superintendent for two years, finally resigning to enter the Union 
Army. 

From his law office he went out in July, 1862, to become a soldier 
of the Union. He enlisted in Company F of the Ninety-eighth Illinois 
Infantry, and was in continuous service until the close of the war. He 
went through the various grades of sergeant, orderly sergeant, second 
lieutenant, first lieutenant until he became captain of his company, and 
for a time was on the staff of General Wilder. Captain Smith was 
mustered out of the army in April, 1865, at Nashville, Tennessee. 

In the meantime, in 1864 he had married Miss Tina Weedon, a native 
of Woodbury, Tennessee, and they were married at Murfreesboro. Captain 



666 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Smith was then a poor young army officer, had as yet established no 
permanent connections in his profession, and after his marriage at the 
home of his bride he was in such financial straits that he had to borrow 
enough money from a southern gentleman to get him and his wife back 
North. Immediately after coming out of the army Captain Smith located 
at Champaign, Illinois, where his thorough ability and his personal popu- 
larity soon brought him a living practice. He has long been recognized 
as a successful lawyer, and has grown wealthy in the profession and in 
the various business interests he has acquired. Captain Smith is still 
attorney for and a director in the Champaign National Bank and is also 
attorney for the Wabash Railroad Company. 

For nearly forty years Captain Smith and wife lived together, and 
the many bonds that united them were finally broken in her death on 
August 22, 1903. Captain Smith and wife spent much of their time in 
later years in travel, and they were all over Europe together. Captain 
Smith has always been active in the Republican party, and for four years 
was chairman of the Republican Central Committee. He is a member 
of the Masonic Order, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Country Club, 
and the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Louis GLENN COLLISON, vice president of the First National Bank of 
Rantoul, is one of the youngest bankers of Champaign County, and has 
attained a distinctive position in business affairs which would be creditable 
to many older men. 

Mr. Collison was born at Rantoul, August 30, 1894, a son of the late 
Fred Collison and Emma B. Collison. His mother is now Mrs. S. C. 
Tucker of Champaign. 

Mr. Collison was liberally educated, attending the grammar and high 
schools at Rantoul, spent one year in the University of Illinois and one 
year in Northwestern University at Chicago, and also had a business course 
in the Gem City Business College at Quincy. His father's death caused 
him to leave school and assume an active part in the management of his 
father's estate. 

He first became connected with banking as bookkeeper and director of 
the First National Bank at Rantoul, and in the fall of 1915, soon after 
his twenty-first birthday, was made assistant cashier and has been vice 
president since January, 1917. Mr. Collison has been a director in the 
First National Bank of Thomasboro, Illinois, since the summer of 1914, 
and has been a director in the First National Bank of Gilman for over a 
year. Thus his position makes him a factor in the financial life of Cham- 
paign County and he also has some valuable farm land in this county. 

Mr. Collison is a Republican voter, a member of the Masonic order, of 
the Champaign County Country Club and the Church of Christ. March 2, 
1916, at the home of the bride in Philo Township, he married Hazel Ursula 
Guard, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Guard. Her father was one of 
the early farmers of Champaign County. Mrs. Collison was educated in 
the Philo High School and also took a course in Brown's Business College 
at Champaign. While exceedingly busy with his private affairs, Mr. Colli- 
son has not neglected the public welfare and recently he was one of the 
local men who secured the establishment of the Chanute Aviation Field at 
Rantoul. 

The name Collison stands among the worthy names of those whose 
integrity of character and public spirited enterprise have contributed no 
small share toward the splendid achievements of men in our community. 
To Champaign County's future success in the social, civic and economic 
enterprises it is highly important that our young men qualify themselves 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 667 

for the duties of life as they are called upon to fill the positions of their 
worthy predecessors among the ranks of men, and it is highly gratifying to 
the friends of the Collison family that the present head of the family has 
taken his place in the social, religious and commercial world, thus making 
himself a recognized factor in the community interests of this great county, 
of which her sons and daughters have every reason to be justly proud. 

FRED S. BAILEY, member of the well known Bailey family of Cham- 
paign, now vice president of the Champaign National Bank, was born at 
Champaign April 19, 1871, and is a son of Captain Edward Bailey, one 
of the founders of the bank who is elsewhere mentioned in these pages. 

Mr. Bailey attended the common and high schools of Champaign, 
graduating from the latter in 1889, and continued his studies at the Uni- 
versity of Illinois until failing health obliged him to leave. For a year 
he worked in Colorado for an uncle and having recovered his health 
returned to Champaign and entered the Champaign National Bank as a 
clerk. He has been through all the grades of service and is now vice- 
president of that institution. 

Mr. Bailey is a charter member of the Elks Lodge at Champaign and 
in politics is a Republican. He was married August 12, 1901, to Miss 
Mabel Bennett, a native of Pontiac, Illinois. Her parents removed to 
Champaign in 1892 and her father was formerly agent of the Illinois 
Central Railway here and afterwards in the land business in Mississippi. 
Both her parents are now deceased. 

MRS. SUZAN KIRK, widow of the late Bernard Kirk, is a Champaign 
County woman around whom center many associations and interests that 
betoken the spirit and achievements for which American life is most note- 
worthy. Mrs. Kirk was born in County Louth, Ireland, a daughter of 
Patrick and Ann (Casey) McGinnis. She was about fifteen years of age 
when her father died. While she was a girl in Ireland her cousin Mary 
Curley returned on a visit to the old country, and had much to say about 
the wonderful opportunities of the New World. It was these stories which 
largely decided Suzan to cast in her lot with the country across the water, 
and at the age of nineteen she set out and came alone across the ocean, 
landing at New York and going on to Chicago. She spent some time near 
Chicago, and while there met Bernard Kirk, also a native of the Emerald 
Isle and a son of Henry and Bridget Kirk. Bernard Kirk in the mean- 
time had established himself in Champaign County and was in Chicago on 
business when he met Miss McGinnis. The acquaintance thus began con- 
tinued with ripening affection until wedding bells sounded. The young 
couple possessed many of the virtues for which the land of Shamrock is 
noted, and began with vigor and enterprise the task of developing a 160- 
acre tract of land which Mr. Kirk owned in Champaign County. Their 
trip from Chicago to Champaign County was in the nature of a honeymoon. 

Bernard Kirk had come to America with only $5 in capital, but steadily 
worked his way to a comparative degree of independence by the time he 
was married. Then, with the aid of a capable wife, progress was rapid, 
and .the success of his career is measured in the extensive holdings of 715 
acres of as fine land as the State of Illinois can show. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Kirk were born the following children: Bernard, 
Patrick H., Anna, John Francis, Margaret Cecelia, Mary Loretta and' 
Charles Joseph. Mr. and Mrs. Kirk did their utmost to train these chil- 
dren well both at home and in school. The children attended the Stone- 
street district school, while Margaret Cecelia finished her education in the 
Raymond school of Chicago. She is now the wife of Francis O'Toole, a 



668 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

resident of Chicago and connected with the United States postal service. 
Mr. and Mrs. O'Toole have a little daughter, Frances. The daughter 
Anna Kirk married Bernard Murphy, who for many years was with the 
Chicago police force and died five years ago. 

After many years of companionship and mutual sharing of joy and 
sorrow and prosperity, Mr. Kirk departed this life in February, 1908, after 
a brief illness of one week. He was a kind neighbor, a forceful business 
man and farmer, and had a record of which his family will always be 
proud. "Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of 
that man is peace." 

Thus left alone Mrs. Kirk faced the duties of life in a manner that has 
won for her the admiration of a large community. She took the manage- 
ment of the estate with the co-operation of her children and has shown a 
fine executive ability in keeping matters straight and in improving the 
large property left to her. She has never left the old homestead, and lives 
today amid the scenes which are associated with her coming to Champaign 
County as a happy and carefree bride. The crown of her life is her 
children, whom she has seen grow up around her and whose lives have 
partaken of the spirit and character of their worthy parents. The sons 
have proved themselves successful farmers, and the way in which the large 
estate is handled is the best evidence of their training and ability. Mrs. 
Kirk with all her many cares and responsibilities keeps in close touch 
with tiie issues of the day, and like many other American women, she 
abominates war and feels that its sacrifices are unjust and uncalled for. 
Mrs. Kirk and family are active members and liberal supporters of the 
Catholic Church at Penfield. While there have been trials and vicissitudes 
in her life, Mrs. Kirk considers it a golden day in her existence 'when she 
left Ireland and came to America, and has never had a cause to regret her 
choice of the New World and the many pleasant and fruitful years she has 
spent here. 

JOSEPH L. HINES. The first man appointed to carry the mail into 
the rural districts of Champaign County .was the late Joseph L. Hines. 
Mr. Hines was for many years a resident of Champaign and his death, 
which' occurred in that city November 15, 1910, removed an honored and 
respected citizen. 

Mr. Hines was born in Hamilton County, Indiana, December 31, 
1859, the youngest in a family of nine children born to Joseph and Eliza- 
beth (LeMarr) Hines. He grew up and received his education in the 
country and was a farmer until his marriage. He then formed a con- 
nection as a traveling salesman with the Coal Brothers Pump Company 
at Greencastle, Indiana, and sold the goods of that organization over a 
large territory. After many years of this life Mr. Hines removed to 
Champaign County in 1893 and entered the livery business. About half 
a dozen years later, when the rural free delivery system was established, 
he secured the first appointment as a rural carrier and for a number of 
years made his journey daily u.p and down the roads of Champaign 
County, delivering mail to the farmers along the route. 

Mr. Hines was married November 18, 1881, to Miss Lizzie B. 
McKinsey, a native of Indiana and the oldest of seven children of Jacob 
and Rachel (Moore) McKinsey. Her parents were also natives of Indiana. 
Since her husband's death Mrs. Hines has continued to live in Champaign, 
and in 1913 she built the handsome two-story and basement brick and tile 
apartment house at 105 South Eandolph Street, where she still resides. 
Mr. Hines was an active Republican in politics. Four children were born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Hines : Fred J., now deceased ; Margaret L., wife of 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 669 

Charles A. Powers, of St. Louis; Edna, who died in childhood; and Kate, 
a resident of New York City and pursuing a course in voice culture. 

REUBEN ROUGHTON. Among the many beautiful country estates which 
are to be found in Champaign County one of the most attractive and val- 
uable is the farm of Reuben Roughton, which is located in section 27, 
Ludlow Township, one and one-half miles north of Rantoul. The owner 
of this property is one of the progressive agriculturists of the county, a 
skilled and industrious representative of his vocation, and a citizen who 
in many ways has contributed to the advancement of his locality. He was 
born at Attercliff, near Sheffield, England, but has been a resident of the 
United States since he was one and one-half years of age. 

John Roughton, the father of Reuben Roughton, was born in England, 
where he received his education, and as a young man learned the trade of 
blacksmith, which he thoroughly mastered and which he followed for many 
years. In his native country he was united in marriage with Eliza Gilbert, 
who was born at Leicestershire, England, and they became the parents of 
ten children, all of whom died in infancy with the exception of Reuben. 
When this son was one and one-half years of age the family immigrated 
to the United States and first settled at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, but in 1854 
removed to Urbana, Illinois, and subsequently settled at Big Grove in 
Champaign County, where they were residing at the outbreak of the Civil 
War. John Roughton enlisted in the Seventy-sixth Regiment, Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, a famous fighting organization, under Colonel Busey. 
In the army it was soon found out that he was a skilled blacksmith and a 
mechanical genius as well, just the kind of man needed on hand on various 
occasions. Detailed to Jackson, Tennessee, a special order was obtained 
from General Grant to have him remain at that point and at Memphis to 
assist in the work of the ordnance department, where it was felt that he 
was of greater value than he would be at the front. In the latter part of 
his three-year service, however, he went to New Orleans and into Alabama, 
and took part in the victorious charge of the Union forces on Fort Blakeley. 
At the end of the war, with an admirable record for faithful service to his 
adopted country, John Roughton received his honorable discharge and 
returned to Champaign County. Later he became well known in public 
life and had numerous friends among the prominent men of his day and 
locality, among them Judge Cunningham. At various times -he was called 
upon to perform public service, being elected official census taker from the 
township of Ludlow in 1880, and subsequently serving ten years as justice 
of the peace, five years as road commissioner and several years as overseer 
of highways. He was also secretary and superintendent of the Rantoul 
Maplewood Cemetery Association. Mr. Roughton pre-empted, upon his 
arrival in Champaign County, 160 acres of land in section 27, Ludlow 
Township, and there resided during the remainder of his long, busy and 
useful life. He made himself a beautiful home, where hospitality ever 
reigned, and built up an enviable reputation for solidity and sterling probity 
of character. He and his faithful helpmate were laid to rest in the same 
grave. 

Reuben Roughton's parents were desirous that he should enter upon 
life's battles fully prepared by good educational advantages, and he was 
accordingly granted good facilities in this direction. As a youth he 
attended the public schools, subsequently was a student at the Urbana High 
School, and then went to Memphis, Tennessee, where his father was 
employed in the ordnance department of the Federal Government. During 
the first year of the existence of the University of Illinois, at Urbana, he 
studied in that institution, going there with Professor T. J. Burrell, and 

210 



670 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

after the completion of his studies returned to the homestead to assist his 
father in its work and management. 

On January 27, 1876, Mr. Eoughton was married to Miss Eliza H. 
Genung, who was born and educated at Eantoul, a daughter of E. N. and 
Julia A. (Shank) Genung. They began their wedded life on the home 
farm with his parents, and here there were born to them three children: 
Ada Maud, Eoy John and Hazel N. The children were all given good 
educational opportunities, and Hazel X. graduated from the Eantoul High 
School with creditable honors. She married Ira Crane, who is engaged 
in agricultural pursuits near Eantoul, and has two bright and promising 
sons, Wendell Lowell and Maurice Eoughton. Eoy Eoughton married Miss 
Mattie Lindsey, who was educated in the district schools and at Champaign 
and Eantoul, a daughter of Felix G. and Mildred Lindsey, and they have 
two children, Mildred Helen and John Addison. Mildred, who is in her 
second year of high school and expects to finish her course, is a studious 
and progressive young lady, with creditable ambitions. The first child of 
Mr. and Mrs. Beuben Eoughton, Ada Maud, after a brief illness with 
typhoid pneumonia, died when but eleven years of age. 

The Roughton home is one which exemplifies the highest type of com- 
fortable country dwelling. It is situated in a grove of beautiful maple, 
ash and evergreen trees, which Mr. Eoughton planted as a boy, and one 
of the features of the farm which at once attracts the notice of the visitor 
is a mammoth brown boulder in the front yard of the home, which has 
probably rested there for ages, this curious rock formation now being set 
attractively in the midst of a circle of flowers and plants and covered with 
vines. The beautiful lawns and drives remind the visitor of the old English 
estates, the pride of Great Britain, and the other improvements have been 
so installed that they not only please the eye, but are also placed so as to 
give the greatest amount of practical service. Mr. Eoughton carries on 
general farming and stock raising operations and has been very successful 
in both directions. He has been industrious in his work and modern in 
his methods, while his honorable dealings have served to impress the com- 
munity with his integrity and probity. Politically he is a Eepublican, 
and he and Mrs. Eoughton are members and liberal supporters of the Chris- 
tian Church of Eantoul. 

GEORGE L. INMAN was for many years a. business man of power and 
influence in Champaign County. He was accustomed to handling large 
things in a large way, and besides the New Inman Hotel at Champaign, 
citizens of the county have reason to remember him for many other 
influences and activities. 

Mr. Inman was born in Erie County, Pennsylvania, March 8, 1867, 
and was only a little past his fiftieth birthday when he died April 5, 1917. 
His death occurred at Cramer, Indiana, but he was laid to rest at Cham- 
paign, where he had his home for over a quarter of a century. Mr. 
Inman's mother, Emily Drake, was a direct descendant of the great 
English admiral, Sir Francis Drake. Mr. Inman was the youngest of six 
children, the others being: Mrs. Dora Orton, of Erie, Pennsylvania; 
Sylvester C., of Erie; Fred, of Erie; Herbert and Emily, both deceased. 

George L. Inman grew up in Erie County, Pennsylvania, where his 
father was a lawyer, and he studied law under his father's direction as 
part of a liberal education, not for the purpose of practicing. His first 
important enterprise was promoting the publication of a paper called the 
Farmers Ledger, located at Danville, Illinois. In the interests of that 
publication he traveled extensively throughout the Middle West. About 
1891 Mr. Inman came to Champaign and engaged in the real estate and 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 671 

farm mortgage business. Mr. Inman is remembered by all with whom 
he came in contact as a man of great magnetism and personality. He 
had a host of friends, and. also an extended business acquaintance. He 
did much to develop Champaign County. In Champaign he erected a 
large brick building at the corner of University Avenue and Market Street, 
and in 1915 he built the splendid six-story brick hotel known as the New 
Inman House, where he had his home and where his widow still resides. 
This hotel is at the corner of University Avenue and Walnut Street. Mr. 
Inman was independent in politics, and never found time for clubs or 
for church affairs. 

His first wife was Minnie Swearingen, of St. Joseph, Champaign 
County. She died in 1899. On May 13, 1900, Mr. Inman married Nora 
Trumbull Stevenson. By her first marriage to Elijah Stevenson Mrs. 
Inman had two children: Arthur G., who lives at St. Louis, Missouri, and 
by his marriage to Madeline Fuller, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania, there 
are three children, Arthur G., Robert L. and Madeline. Mrs. Inman's 
second child, Elizabeth, is the wife of Jay C. Taylor of Champaign, 
Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have a child, Croydon Stevenson, born 
September 6, 1916. 

JOHN J. HANSON, who has a splendid farm partly in Champaign and 
partly in Ford County, is one of that type of citizens who begin life with- 
out special advantages or the inheritance of means except ability to toil 
and make the best of an environment, and has proved himself one of the 
sturdy characters in this section of Illinois. His home is just beyond the 
Champaign County line in Ford County, opposite section 4 of Harwood 
Township. He gets his daily mail delivery over Route No. 3 from Paxton, 
Illinois. 

Mr. Hanson is a native of Sweden but has spent most of his life in 
Champaign County. He is a son of Charles and Martha Hanson, and his 
mother died when he was two years of age. He then grew up in the home 
of his grandmother and also an uncle, who brought him to America when 
John was nine years old. He received the bulk of his education in the 
public schools at Paxton. 

At the age of twenty-six Mr. Hanson married Miss Annie Danielson, 
who was born near Rantoul, daughter of G. and Hilda (Staff) Danielson. 
Her parents were also natives of Sweden and had a family of nine children. 
Mrs. Hanson was educated in the Gallagher school near Ludlow. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hanson started farming in Ford 
County, and four years later moved to the Danielson farm in Champaign 
County, where they remained eleven years. They had all the qualities 
which are requisite to making a success as farmers and as factors in the 
life and uplift of a community. From % the fruits of their labors they 
bought their present fine farm, consisting of 200 acres, 120 acres lying in 
Ford County and eighty acres in Champaign County. In 1913 Mr. Hanson 
erected a fine country home at a cost of $4,000. This is one of the most 
pleasant and attractive country residences in that region. Mr. Hanson 
has installed a complete water system, furnishing water both hot and cold, 
and also a Delco electric lighting plant. These improvements, together 
with telephone and rural mail delivery, give the family all the conveniences 
of the city in the midst of attractive rural surroundings. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hanson have five children : Martha, Phoebe, May, Theodore and Ella. 
To properly educate these children has been one of the chief objects of 
Mr. Hanson. Martha, Phoebe and May have all finished the eighth grade 
of the public schools. They have also taken instrumental lessons in music, 
and music is one of the features of the Hanson family life. 



672 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. Hanson's political support is given to the Republican party. His 
fellow citizens, having the utmost confidence in his judgment, have elected 
him to such offices -as road commissioner and school director. This con- 
fidence is well placed, since he is willing to take from his own time what 
is necessary to keep up the standard of schools and also contribute to the 
good roads movement. As a fanner Mr. Hanson raises many bumper 
crops and in some years has had a harvest of 9,000 and 10,000 bushels of 
corn. The family also believe in enjoying the good things of life as they 
go along, and they have a fine five-passenger touring car which enables 
them to get over the country and visit friends at a distance. Mr. Hanson 
is one of the leading officials and workers in the Lutheran Mission Church 
at Paxton. For years he has filled the office of deacon, and is now church 
treasurer and a trustee. The pastor of this church is Rev. G. Nelson. 
The family attend worship in the same church and the children are mem- 
bers of the Sunday school. 

HON. OLIN L. BROWDER. The office of chief executive in any com- 
munity is a responsible one and the individual occupying it has resting 
upon his shoulders not only the numerous details of the management 
of a city, but also the accountability for its financial, commercial and 
moral integrity. In many cases, as he is so is his community, for it soon 
reflects his character and manner of dealing with large problems, and 
unless he keeps a firm grip upon the reins of government and forces his 
associates and fellow-officials to act as he believes is right and just his 
administration soon shows the effect of lax methods and unprogressive 
principles, and the community retrogresses. For this reason, of late years 
many of the more progressive cities have chosen for their chief executives 
individuals from the ranks of the solid business and professional men, for 
they have recognized the effect of example and action and know that 
one who has accomplished much in a financial or professional way is very 
apt to possess the qualities that make for successful handling of a city's 
governmental problems. An example of such a choice and of its benefi- 
cent nature is found at Urbana, the county seat of Champaign County, 
where Olin L. Browder, one of the county's most successful lawyers, filled 
ably for two .terms the mayoralty chair. His term as mavor expired 
May 1, 1917. 

Mr. Browder was born in Hamilton County, Illinois, September 4, 
1879, and is a son of William A. and Harriet A. (Henry) Browder, natives 
of Washington County, Illinois. Mr. Browder's father has been for over 
fifty years a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with charges in 
various parts of Illinois, and in 1910 located at Urbana, where he now 
makes his home, as does Mrs. Browder. They were the parents of two 
children: Olin L., and a daughter, Ethel, who died in childhood. 

The boyhood of 0. L. BrowdeV was passed in various parts of Illinois, 
as his father's vocation kept him moving from one territory to another, 
but the greater part of his early education was secured at Mount Vernon, 
Jefferson County. In order to secure more than a graded school course 
he worked his way through the high school at Mount Vernon, from which 
he was duly graduated, and in 1899 entered the University of Illinois. 
Here he again showed his independence, ambition and resource by paying 
his university tuition fees and paying for his board and lodging by working 
at whatever honorable occupation he could find, and in this way secured 
his degree of Bachelor of Arts. Still he was not satisfied, for his ambition 
was set upon a career in the law, and after several years he once again 
became a student at the University, from the legal department of which 
he was graduated as a member of the class of 1906, bearing with him his 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 673 

coveted degree of Bachelor of Laws. At that time Mr. Browder took up 
his residence and opened an office at Urbana, and here he has continued 
in the enjoyment of a constantly increasing practice, interrupted only 
by the demands of his official positions. Almost immediately upon his 
arrival he was appointed corporation counsel, an office in which he served 
under two mayors, following which he acted as alderman for two years. 
By this time the people of Urbana had become sufficiently acquainted with 
the hustling young lawyer and his methods to recognize that he would 
make an excellent man in the mayor's office, and accordingly, in 1913, 
they sent him to that position. His handling of the weighty matters that 
came up for consideration during his first term proved so satisfactory that 
in 1915 he was given the re-election, and continued as one of the best 
mayors the city of Urbana has ever known. He is a Eepublican in his 
political views, affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, and is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, the movements of which he supports 
liberally. As a lawyer he is astute, shrewd and thoroughly versed in all 
departments of his profession, a stickler for ethics and a courteous opponent 
and valued associate. He represents the new and hustling element that 
has arisen in late years to add to the progress of Champaign County. 

Mr. Browder married at Urbana June 29, 1905, Miss Nellie S. Taylor, 
who was born in this county. They have been the parents of three 
children: Sheldon, who was born in 1908 and died in 1912; Olin L., Jr., 
born in December, 1913; and William B., born September 6, 1916. 

EUGENE H. RUSSELL is one of the younger business men of Cham- 
paign, and is successfully managing his mother's Belvoir Theater. The 
Belvoir stages high class theatrical productions and fills it with the best 
of the modern film productions. Recently there was installed in the 
theater a $5,000 Bartolo organ, and its music is now one of the important 
features and attractions of this fine house. 

Mr. Russell was born in Champaign November 12, 1893, a son of 
Charles H. and Lizzie V. (Hamilton) Russell. Both parents were born 
in Illinois, his mother being a native of Carlinville. His father came to 
Champaign County when a young man and was in the hardware business 
for a number of years. Mr. Russell is a nephew of C. F. Hamilton, and 
the Hamiltons have been long prominent and wealthy citizens of Cham- 
paign County. This branch of the family history is taken up in more 
detail on other pages. Eugene H. Russell was the second in a family of 
four children. The oldest, Fenton, is now deceased. Virginia and Helen 
still live at home. 

Mr. Russell, who is yet unmarried, was graduated from the Cham- 
paign High School in 1914 and then took a year in the agricultural depart- 
ment of the State University. For about four months he was connected 
with the Williams Garage, and he then took the active management of his 
mother's theater. She is owner of the brick building now occupied by 
the Belvoir. Mr. Russell is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks. 

JOHN FRANCIS McCABE. A man of broad usefulness and influence in 
the community was taken away in the death of John Francis McCabe. He 
stood high among all classes of people, was industrious, quiet in his manner, 
seldom attracting much attention beyond the borders of his own neighbor- 
hood, but wherever known was recognized for his sterling merits and his 
efficiency in everything he undertook. 

Mr. McCabe was born in Logan County, Illinois, a son of John and 
Ann (Spencer) McCabe. His parents were natives of Ireland, coming to 



674 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

America when young and marrying in this country. When John F. was 
a year and a half old they located in Champaign County. There were 
only two sons in the family, James E. and John F. 

The McCabes were among the pioneers of Champaign County and 
acquired an estate of 520 acres. All of this was developed, cultivated 
and beautified through the efforts of the family. The home is in section 10 
of Harwood Township and it is one that does credit to those who contributed 
to its development. 

John F. McCabe married Mary Agnes Quinlin. She was born at 
Farmer City in DeWitt County, Illinois, a daughter of Michael and Mary 
(McKevitt) Quinlin. Her father was born in Ireland and her mother 
in Ohio and they were married at Lincoln, Illinois. Mrs. McCabe was the 
second of nine children. With her brothers and sisters she attended the 
public schools. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McCabe started out as farmers on 
the old McCabe homestead. Into their home were born eight children. 
One of them, Paul, died at the age of six years. The others are John J., 
Michael M., William Vincent, Francis E., Mary Ellen, Anna and Grace. 
Mr. and Mrs. McCabe from the first endeavored to give these children the 
best of home training and a substantial education. They attended the Bur- 
bank district school, and for the past three years John, Michael and Vincent 
have been students of the Donovan Memorial School at Eantoul. They 
attend the school daily, driving from the country to Ludlow and from there 
going by interurban. 

Death has been a frequent visitor in the McCabe family. John McCabe, 
Sr., passed away in October, 1901, and his wife has also entered into rest, 
passing away January 25, 1916. On March 18, 1916, John F. McCabe, 
after a brief illness of one week of pneumonia and appendicitis, passed 
away. He was still young, with a promise of great accomplishment and 
achievement still before him, but had endeared himself to his family and a 
large community by his ability and kindness. 

Mrs. McCabe since her husband's death has bravely taken up the duties 
of existence, and has been both father and mother to her children. She 
possesses unusual executive ability and having decided to remain on the 
old homestead has proved a splendid manager. This home is one made 
sacred to the McCabe family by many associations, and while looking after 
the many details of the farm Mrs. McCabe is also carefully rearing her 
family of children. They attend the Catholic Church at Ludlow. 

EDWARD EOOEES. The most capable, successful and prominent men 
in either public or business life are not always those who started out with 
the ambition to achieve something really great and famous, but in the 
majority of cases are individuals who at the outset have placed due valua- 
tion upon honesty, integrity and determination. Possessing these qualities 
as practically representing his entire capital Edward Eogers embarked 
upon his career in young manhood, and in the course of years has won 
a place for himself among the leading citizens of Champaign County. For 
a long period he has been identified with the official life of the community, 
having for some time been city treasurer of Champaign, and at the present 
is the incumbent of the responsible office of treasurer of Champaign 
County. His success, self-made, is indicative of the rewards attainable 
through a career in which proper respect has been given to honorable 
effort and worthy service. 

Edward Eogers was born at Westboro, Clinton County, Ohio, Decem- 
ber 31, 1869, the only son of Thomas J. and Adelia (Pearce) Eogers. 
His father, a native of Virginia, left the Old Dominion and went to 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 675 

Ohio, and enlisted in the Union Army from West Virginia. He was 
later transferred to the Forty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 
and served bravely with that hard-fighting organization, which accompa- 
nied the forces of General Sherman in their memorable march to the sea. 
In the fighting which took place before Atlanta, July 22, 1864, Mr. Rogers 
fell wounded, and his injury proved of such a nature as to disable him from 
further duty and he was honorably discharged and invalided home. When 
he recovered he resumed his harness-making operations and continued to 
be engaged therein in Clinton County, Ohio, until 1877, in which year he 
came to Champaign County, Illinois. He is now retired from active 
labor and makes his home at Champaign. During a long and active 
career he has worked out a modest success, and in his declining years is 
able to enjoy the comforts earned by years of honorable labor. Mr. and 
Mrs. Rogers were the parents of two children : Edward ; and Fannie, who 
is the wife of Frank Sabin, of Champaign. 

When he had completed the course of study prescribed by the graded 
schools Edward Rogers entered the high school at Champaign, having been 
brought to this county as a lad of eight years. He was graduated in 188? 
and for a time was engaged in farming, but like many farmer boys was 
attracted to the business of railroading, although, unlike the majority, he 
did not enter the train service. When he was twenty-one years old he 
became an employe of the Illinois Central Railroad as a clerk in the 
machinery department, and continued to be connected with that branch of 
the service until 1910, when he was made deputy county treasurer of 
Champaign County. In the meantime, from 1907 until 1909, he had 
served as city treasurer of Champaign, establishing an excellent record. 
In 1914 he was made the candidate of the Republican party for the office 
of county treasurer of Champaign County, and received a good majority 
at the polls. The people of the county who elected him have had no 
reason to regret their choice, for he has made a good and hard-working 
official who has placed the interests of the county above all others, and 
who has made his office one of the best governed of the section. It has 
been his aim and desire to keep the county finances in the best of condi- 
tion and to conserve the interests of the tax payers in the greatest degree 
possible. Mr. Rogers is accounted one of the wheel-horses of the Republi- 
can party in Champaign County. He is well known fraternally, and 
belongs to the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks 
and the Tribe of Ben Hur, and also holds membership in the Sons of 
Veterans. 

On May 18, 1898, Mr. Rogers married Miss Elma Kelley, who was 
born at Leroy, Illinois, and they are the parents of three children, namely: 
Donald M., Vera L. and John K. 

CARL WILHELM SPOEHELE. Since his arrival in Champaign County in 
1873 the career of Carl Wilhelm Spoehrle has been one in which industry, 
integrity and fidelity have served to give him an ever-increasing success, 
a standing as a reputable and substantial citizen, and the respect of the 
community in which he has so long resided. At the time of. his arrival he 
was in modest circumstances, and he found the new community in which 
he settled little more than a raw prairie. His own development from his 
former position to one of affluence has kept steady pace with the progress 
of the county to its present proud position among the leading agricultural 
centers of the state. 

Mr. Spoehrle was born in Germany, a son of Gottlieb and Katherine 
Spoehrle, natives of that country, where their entire lives were spent. 
Carl W. was given an ordinary educational training by honorable parents 



676 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

who were possessed of only moderate financial means, and in his youth 
showed himself ambitious to make something of himself. The opportuni- 
ties in his native land, however, were not any too plentiful, and his future did 
not seem bright, so that when nineteen years of age he was glad to accept 
the invitation of his sister, Christina Magdalina, who had preceded him, 
to come to the United States. He accordingly took passage on a sailing 
vessel, and after a voyage of more than forty days arrived in America and 
immediately made his way to the home of his sister at Atlanta, Illinois. 
There he secured employment of an agricultural nature and, being intelli- 
gent and alert, soon picked up American customs and methods, as well as 
the language of this country. By 1873 he felt himself ready to enter upon 
a career of his own, and in that year came to Champaign County, which 
he found to consist of prairie land. For seven years he worked hard and 
faithfully, and with native economy saved his earnings, so that at the end 
of that time he was able to purchase his first tract of land, for which he 
paid $35 an- acre. This was in the vicinity of the home of his sister, 
Mrs. Christina Summit, who did much to cheer and encourage him, and 
but for whose advice the entire trend of his life might have been changed. 
When still little more than a youth, with the ambition and venturesome 
spirit of young manhood, he was about to allow himself to answer the call 
of the great West, lured there by stories of the wonderful fortunes to be won 
by young men of energy and ambition. His sister, with her maturer wis- 
dom, however, entreated the young man to remain in Illinois, and her 
judgment prevailed. Mr. Spoehrle has never had cause to regret his deci- 
sion of remaining in the Prairie State, where he has found position, a 
comfortable competence, the friendship of his neighbors, the respect of 
his fellow citizens and the love and affection of those near and dear to him. 

From the time that he became a landholder Mr. Spoehrle's industry 
increased in volume, and his ambition was encouraged. There was not a 
tree on his farm when he bought it, nor was there drainage of any kind, 
although there were plenty of sloughs. Setting to work, he planted trees, 
drained off the sloughs and put in up-to-date drainage, subsequently made 
other improvements and erected substantial and commodious buildings and 
a large, comfortable residence. Through his industry and the straightfor- 
ward manner he had of doing business it was not long before he came to 
be looked upon as one of the substantial men of his community, a desirable 
and reliable citizen who added strength and worth to the locality's agricul- 
tural prestige. He has retained a young heart, and is cheery, kind and 
hospitable, and his pleasant home, located two miles south of Ludlow, 
is the scene of numerous gatherings of his many friends. In politics Mr. 
Spoehrle is a Eepublican, but he has not been an office holder, although 
always a supporter of good men and measures and of public spirited move- 
ments. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran Evangelical Church in 
Germany, but after coming to America became a Methodist, and now 
belongs to the Ludlow Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a liberal 
supporter. His farm consists of 140 acres, all under a high state of culti- 
vation. 

Mr. Spoehrle is unmarried, and his home is presided over by his niece, 
Miss Lydia Summit, a daughter of his sister Christina, who first persuaded 
him to come to this country and later to stay in Illinois. Mrs. Summit's 
other children are Scott, Sarah and Minnie, the last having been christened 
Wilhelmina, in honor of Mr. Spoehrle, whose middle name is Wilhelm. 
Lydia is not only housekeeper for her uncle; she is also counsellor and 
adviser to him, and manager of many of his affairs. Her presence in her 
uncle's household assures his visitors of the best cheer that could be offered 
by any household manager, and in Mr. Spoehrle's declining years she is a 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 677 

source of great comfort to him. Miss Summit is a devout member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Ludlow, is active in good works and kind 
deeds, and is held in great esteem in the community by those who know her 
intelligent mind and large heart. 

PATRICK MOLLOY. Among the honored names of Champaign County 
none stands higher in the records of honesty, thrift and community esteem 
than that of the late Patrick Molloy. 

He was a native of Ireland. He came to America in early life and 
while living in Ohio met and married Catherine Gleason. She was born 
in Parish Gilbairn, four miles from Bursycane and ten miles from Nenagh, 
Ireland, a daughter of Patrick and Catherine Gleason. When she was four- 
teen years of age her parents came to America and settled in Butler County, 
Ohio, where she grew up and married. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Molloy came to Champaign 
County, when much of this district was raw and new, and located two and 
three-quarters miles northwest of Rantoul out on the open prairie. Much 
of the heavy development work had yet to be done and the country stretched 
around them for miles, affording an uninterrupted view clear to the San- 
gamon River, ten miles away. The future stretched equally before this 
energetic young Irish couple, rosy with bright promises. There they 
worked hard year in and year out, and in time had the satisfaction of ample 
possessions and sufficient for themselves and for their children. 

Six children came into their home : Edward J., Daniel, Thomas, Wil- 
liam, Mary and Alice Agnes. The children were educated in the Rantoul 
High School, while William finished a course in Quincy, Illinois. 

William Molloy married Margaret Donovan, and their three children 
are Louise, Helen and William. Mary Molloy married Michael Walsh, 
now a retired farmer, and their children are Francis, Willie, Leo and 
Agnes, and one that died in infancy. Thomas married Jennie Cahagan of 
Bloomington, Illinois, and they live on the old home farm. Their one 
daughter is named Helena. The Molloy family experienced all the hard- 
ships of early life and the pleasures and incidents of increasing prosperity. 
Their home was noted for its kindness and hospitality and it is said that 
no person in need was ever turned away empty handed. The old people 
grew in the riches of esteem in their neighborhood and had many friends 
all over that section. Both were active members of St. Malachi's Catholic 
Church and their children were reared in the same faith. 

Patrick Molloy died in 1905. After his death his widow removed to 
Rantoul and lived with her son Edward J. Edward J. and William A. 
Molloy are among the active business men of Rantoul and conduct a large 
real estate office. 

JOHN C. DALLENBACH, M. D. Among the leaders in the medical 
profession at Champaign is a native son, Dr. John C. Dallenbach, who 
belongs to one of the old pioneer families of the county, which was founded 
by the grandfather, John Dallenbach, who came here when his son, John 
J. Dallenbach, was three years old. Few names in this section have been 
more continuously or justly held in esteem and the present representatives 
perpetuate the sterling characteristics of the older generations. 

John C. Dallenbach was born at Champaign, Illinois, December ??, 
1881. His parents are John J. and Anna (Mittendorf) Dallenbach, the 
former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter in Cook County, Illinois. 
When the grandfather, in 1857, came with his family to Champaign 
County he located on a farm in Champaign Township, but only for one 
year, moving then to Champaign and establishing the meat business, which 



678 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

continued a stable industry of the city, until his descendants sold it in 
1917, under the old family name, the grandfather being succeeded by his 
two sons, John J. and William C. Dallenbach. Of his parents' three 
children, Doctor Dallenbach is the eldest, his next younger brother, Karl 
M., being an instructor in psychology in Cornell College, Ithaca, New York. 
The youngest of the family, Louis E. Dallenbach, owns and manages a 
large chicken farm near Champaign. In 1917 he responded to the call 
of duty and became a captain in the artillery department of the Officers 
Eeserve Corps and at present is in active service. 

John C. Dallenbach secured a public school education at Champaign 
and was graduated from the high school in 1899, following which he 
entered the University of Illinois, taking the three year preparatory to the 
medical course and receiving his A. B. degree in 1906. He graduated 
from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania at Phil- 
adelphia in 1906. During 1907 and 1908 he led a busy student life of 
practical experience as resident physician of the Methodist Episcopal Hos- 
pital, Philadelphia. From there he went to the Far West and for four 
years was in active medical practice at Seattle, Washington, at the end 
of that time returning to his native place and here has been in practice 
ever since. 

On November, 17, 1907, Doctor Dallenbach was united in marriage 
with Miss Reba B. Bryan, who was born in New Jersey. In his political 
views Doctor Dallenbach is a Republican and at all times is interested in 
local issues as they influence sanitation and good government. Fraternally 
he is identified with the Masons and the Elks. A physician's role at all 
times calls for a high order of courage as well as high ideals of service 
to mankind, hence Doctor Dallenbach doubtless would disclaim any par- 
ticular bravery should occasion demand his professional services in his 
office of first lieutenant of the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States 
army. Certain it is that no more skillful or competent physician could 
be secured. In the summer of 1917 he was in the Medical Officers Train- 
ing Camp, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis. At present he is surgeon 
of the Three Hundred and Thirty-second Field Artillery with rank of 
captain. 

JAMES A. SOMERS is a native of Champaign County and for many years, 
with his good wife by his side, has labored industriously and with good 
results as a farmer in St. Joseph Township. He has built up a splendid 
home and at the same time has acquired the esteem and confidence of a large 
body of the citizenship of Champaign County. 

He was born in Somer Township of this county October 10, 1866, a son 
of John L. and Mary J. (Kirby) Somers. His father was a native of North 
Carolina and his mother of Indiana. The parents were married at Farmer 
City, Illinois, and spent the rest of their days in Somer Township of Cham- 
paign County. They were the parents of eight children, five sons and three 
daughters, James A. being the fifth in age. 

He was well educated in the common schools of his native township, and 
grew up to a life of independent effort, with industrious habits early incul- 
cated. At the age of twenty-eight, on March 3, 1895, he married Miss 
Minnie I. Grierson, daughter of Robert and Sarah (McDaniels) Grierson. 
Mrs. Somers was next to the oldest in a family of nine children, and was 
educated in the district schools. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Somers, possessing little capital, 
though with abundance of energy and enthusiasm, rented a tract of land in 
Somer Township and were tenant farmers a period of thirteen years. In 
that time, in addition to providing for their family and home, they were each 




' 



& 




HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 679 

year laying something aside and planning effectively for the future, and 
they then invested their capital in eighty acres of land in section 28 of 
St. Joseph Township. This they made a permanent home and have greatly 
improved and beautified it since it came into their ownership. 

Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Somers : Russell Ivan, Ross 
Donald and Florence Winifred. The only daughter died at the age of ten 
years. Mr. and Mrs. Somers appreciated the need of good education for 
their children and have encouraged them in every way to make the best of 
their talents. Both the boys attended the district schools in the country and 
afterwards attended high school at Urbana. Russell then entered the Uni- 
versity of Illinois, where he specialized in the study of chemistry until his 
studies were interrupted by the call to duty for his country. He is now with 
Company K of the Three Hundred and Forty-ninth Infantry, stationed at 
Camp Dodge, Iowa. The younger son, Ross Donald, is still a student in the 
Urbana High School. Mrs. Somers is an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Politically he is a Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Somers 
are a splendid couple, who can look back upon a period of prosperity which 
their own efforts have earned, and they may take pardonable pride in the 
home they enjoy and the sturdy sons that are growing up 'to manhood's 
responsibilities. 

EGBERT P. LITTLE is one of the old residents of Champaign County, 
having come here with his parents nearly fifty years ago. The business 
to which he successfully applied his efforts through many years was 
farming, but he is now living retired in the city of Champaign. Mr. 
Little prospered as a farmer and stock man, and his material circum- 
stances have added to his own comfort and have also provided means and 
training for the careers of his children, in whom he takes special pride. 

Mr. Little was born in La Salle County, Illinois, September 3, 1857, 
a son of John and Frances (Bassford) Little. His parents were New 
Englanders, his father a native of New Hampshire and his mother of 
Vermont. Both are now deceased. His father was for many years a 
farmer and 'was long identified with the agricultural interests of Cham- 
paign County. Of the nine children in the family four died in infancy. 
Addie A. is the wife of John Blair of Syracuse, New York; Leslie resides 
at Tolono in Champaign County. The next in age is Egbert P. ; Luella 
is the eighth in the family and Linnie is the wife of Charles DeForest, 
of St. Joseph, Illinois. 

Egbert P. Little was eleven years of age when he came with his parents 
to Champaign County in 1868. He grew up on a farm at Tolono, and 
was educated in the local district schools. He lived at home until his 
marriage, and then bought land and applied himself with all the vigor 
and enthusiasm of youth to the task of making a home and succeeding at 
his chosen vocation. Mr. Little continued active on the farm until 1908, 
when he removed to Champaign and bought his present home at 905 South 
Wright Street. 

On March 19, 1884, he married Matilda Merry, a native of Champaign 
County and a daughter of Franklin and Catherine (Norton) Merry. Her 
parents were both natives of New York State and were quite early settlers 
in Champaign County, where they located on a farm in 1855. Both spent 
the rest of their years in this county and her father was killed by the kick 
of a horse. Mrs. Little was the second in a family of three children. The 
oldest was Cyrena, now living in Nebraska, the widow of Frederick Brown. 
The youngest is Charles D. Merry, of Urbana. 

Mr. and Mrs. Little had five children, the fourth of whom died in 
infancy. Roger F., the oldest, is now a practicing lawyer at Urbana. 



680 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Leroy Louis, after graduating from the University of Illinois, taught in 
a high school three years, went abroad, spending about a year in Servia, 
and is now an associate editor of the Outing Magazine in New York City. 
Ethel Esther is a graduate of the class of 1917 in the University of Illinois, 
while the youngest child, Elmer P., is in the first year of the University. 
Mr. Little is a Eepublican in politics and has been casting his vote in 
allegiance to that party for forty years. He and his family are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

CHARLES M. WEBBER. Since 1914 the postoffice at Urbana has been 
in charge of Charles M. Webber, and in the time that has elapsed since 
that date the people of the county seat of Champaign County have had 
no reason to complain of the mail service. Mr. Webber was for many 
years a business man and in the activities of commercial life found much 
to broaden him and to give him sound, practical ideas and love of system 
which have assisted him greatly in keeping the machinery of the postoffice 
in smooth running order. Also, he had previously held official position, 
so that he was not unfamiliar with the exigencies of public life, and in 
addition he had always been appreciative of the responsibilities and obliga- 
tions of the public servant. These things have combined to make him a 
most excellent official and to win him the friendship and confidence of the 
people. 

Mr. Webber was born October 20, 1869, at Urbana, Champaign County, 
Illinois, and is a son of Robert A. and Mary E. (Waller) Webber. His 
father, also a native of the county seat, passed his entire life here and 
was widely known in business circles, his activities having invaded several 
lines of endeavor. His early experience was in mercantile fields, sub- 
sequently he became an abstracter, and during the latter years of his life 
he was secretary of the Citizens Building Association. His death occurred 
at Urbana February 5, 1905. Mr. Webber was an honorable man of bus- 
iness, in whom his associates had the greatest confidence, and a citizen who 
helped in various ways to make the community grow. Mrs. Webber, who 
survives him and still resides at Urbana, was born in Kentucky. Mr. and 
Mrs. Webber were the parents of nine children, as follows: George W., a 
resident of Urbana; Charles M., of this notice; Thomas B., a resident of 
Urbana; J. Clay, a business man at Rantoul, Illinois; David D., whose 
home is at Cleveland, Mississippi; James W., of Urbana; Miss Anna B., 
who resides with her mother; a son who died in infancy; and Elizabeth, 
also deceased. 

Charles M. Webber attended the public schools of Urbana and was 
graduated from the high school with the class of 1887. Following this 
he had his first business experience in his father's abstract office, and when 
the elder man disposed of his interests in that business the son went to 
Rantoul, Illinois, where he joined his brother, J. Clay Webber, in the 
management of a retail drug business. Charles M. Webber remained in 
this line for only about fifteen months, however, and then sold his share 
in the business to his brother and returned to Urbana, where he was 
elected secretary of the Citizens Building Association, a thriving enter- 
prise with which he continued to be connected in the same capacity until 
November, 1906, when he was elected to the office of county clerk. During 
the next four years he acceptably discharged the duties of that position, 
and when his term of office was completed opened an office at Urbana for 
the sale of real estate. This enterprise continued to occupy his time and 
attention until April, 1914, when he was appointed postmaster of Urbana 
by President Woodrow Wilson. Postmaster Webber has been earnest and 
energetic in his efforts to give Urbana and the surrounding country the 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 681 

best of mail service, and that his efforts have been successful is shown in 
the prompt and expeditious manner in which the mails are handled and 
the general satisfaction among the people here in this regard. 

On July 20, 1893, Mr. Webber was married to Miss Lola C. Gulick, 
of Mahomet, Illinois, a native of Champaign County, and to this union 
there have been born ten- children, as follows: Eobert Alfred, who is a 
member of the junior class at the University of Illinois; Joseph T., John 
Savage, Charles M., Jr., Marion Everett, Thomas Eaymond, Dorothy L., 
Mary E., Martha C., and Byron W. In his political alliance Mr. Webber 
is a staunch and unswerving Democrat and has long been accounted one 
of his party's able workers in the county. He is fraternally affiliated with 
the Masons, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Court 
of Honor, and also holds membership in the Urbana Business Men's 
Association. 

THOMAS R. HOPKINS. Modern business requires practical and 
thorough training in the same degree as the professions and sciences. In 
Champaign County there is no institution which affords a better cur- 
riculum and practical business education than the commercial college 
formerly known as Brown's Business College and now owned and adminis- 
tered by Mr. Thomas E. Hopkins, himself a thorough educator of long 
experience and a man who has trained hundreds of young men and women 
and given them a thorough preparation for entrance into business affairs. 

Mr. Hopkins was born in Peoria County, Illinois, January 24, 1877, a 
son of Griffith G. and Anna (Collier) Hopkins. His father was of Welsh 
descent and a native of Ohio, and the mother was born in England. 
Griffith Hopkins came out to Peoria County, Illinois, many years ago 
and was first engaged in mining and subsequently in farming. He finally 
retired and died at Peoria. The children were six in number: Grace, 
who died in infancy; Jesse G., of Jerseyville, Illinois; Lucile E., wife of 
Frank C. Keach, of Los Angeles, California; Thomas E. ; Chauncey J., 
deceased; and Maurice E., of Chicago. 

Thomas E. Hopkins had a public school education in Knox County, 
HHnois, and for two years was a student in the Independent Normal at 
Dixon. For another year he pursued his studies in Knox College at 
Galesburg, and then became associated with Brown's Business College at 
Peoria as an instructor with Mr. Brown. On leaving that institution he 
spent a year as a teacher in Trenton, New Jersey. Locating here in Jack- 
sonville, Illinois, he was employed as principal in Brown's Business Col- 
lege, and then spent two years in St. Louis in the same capacity. In 1907 
he came to Champaign, where he bought Brown's Business College. He 
has maintained the school on a higher plane of efficiency than ever before 
and has surrounded himself with competent and expert instructors in the 
various lines. 

Mr. Hopkins was married October 29, 1908, to Miss Mary West, a 
native of Knox County, Illinois. Their three children are Thomas Eoscoe, 
Viola Helen and Anna Euth. Mr. Hopkins is a Democrat in politics. He 
is a Eoyal Arch Chapter Mason, and is a member of the Board of Stewards 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

CLAUDE B. WAEKER, A. B., A. M., D. D. S., was born at Morrison, 
the county seat of Whiteside County, Illinois, May 6, 1872, and is a son 
of Edward B. and Elizabeth C. (Bryant) Warner, the former a native 
of Saint Louis and the latter of Herculaneum, Missouri. Edward B. 
Warner was a well-to-do business man of Morrison, and also a prominent 
citizen in the public life of Whiteside County, being county treasurer for 



682 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

a period of sixteen years, and for a like period a member of the board of 
equalization. His death occurred in 1891, while Mrs. Warner survived 
until 1916. They were the parents of seven children, as follows: Luella, 
who is the wife of F. C. Hitchcock, of Walden, Colorado ; Arthur D., who 
is president of the Forest City Life Insurance Company at Rockford, 
Illinois ; Dr. A. Lincoln, who is engaged in medical practice at Chicago ; 
Bertha, who is the wife of Maj. R. M. Smith, U. S. A., of New York 
City; Dr. Eugene R., a practicing dentist of Denver, Colorado; Lena, who 
is the wife of Dr. James S. Mason, of Urbana; and Dr. Claude B. 

Claude B. Warner was seventeen years of age when he graduated from 
the Morrison High School, and at that time, feeling that he would enter 
upon a professional career, as had several of his brothers, he started the 
study of law in an office in his home city. After one year thus spent he 
decided that the law was not his forte, and transferred his attention to 
the dental profession, in the office of his brother. Following this expe- 
rience he entered the Northwestern Dental School, from which he was 
graduated with the class of 1894 and the degree of Doctor of Dental 
Surgery, and at that time formed a professional partnership with Dr. 
J. A. W. Davis, of Galesburg. While residing in that city, Dr. Warner 
decided to further his education, and accordingly worked his way through 
Lombard College, securing the degree of Bachelor of Arts and later that 
of Master of Arts. Afterward Dr. Warner went to Avon, Illinois, and was 
there engaged in practice until 1906, when he came to Urbana. 

On his arrival in Urbana, Dr. Warner established his dental office at 129 
South Elm Street, where in conjunction with his brother-in-law, Dr. Mason, 
he erected an office building especially adapted to his work. 

Dr. Warner has been honored many times by his professional 
brethren. He has served as president of the First District Dental Society, 
which includes one-third of this state, as president of the McDonough- 
Fulton County Dental Society, and as president of the Champaign-Dan- 
ville District- Dental Society. He has served as chairman of the Public 
Press Committee and Board of Censors of the Illinois State Dental 
Society. He is now serving as chairman of the Law committee and a 
member of the Executive council of the Illinois State Dental Society. He 
has served as chairman of the committee on Public Dental Education of 
the National Dental Society and is now chairman of the Law committee 
in that organization. 

In his fraternal relations, Dr. Warner is a valued representative of 
the local lodges of the Masons, the Elks and the Eastern Star, and belongs 
also to the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and the Delta Sigma Delta dental 
fraternity, and to the University and Cosmopolitan clubs. On February 
12, 1901, he was united in marriage with Miss Jessie Tonner, of Table 
Grove, Illinois. 

OLOF OLSON on coming to America from his native land of Sweden had 
only three dollars in money, and was in debt for his transportation across 
the ocean. He has been a resident of Champaign County nearly twenty 
years, and it is truly remarkable what he has been able to accomplish in the 
way of accumulating property and in the rearing and founding of a splendid 
country home and a family of most industrious children. No small share of 
the credit for this distinctive success is due to his capable and energetic wife. 

Mr. Olson was born in Sweden, a son of Olof and Ella Olson. He had a 
public school education in his native land. He was twenty-one years of age 
when he determined to take advantage of the opportunities of America, and 
alone crossed the ocean on the ship Arizona. After landing in New York 
City he went direct to Henry County, Illinois, and was soon paying his debts 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 683 

and familiarizing himself with American traditions and customs and in time 
reached that place where he felt justified in having a home of his own. 

In 1891 he married Miss Selma Norberg. She is also a native of Sweden, 
a daughter of Pierre and Marie (Dolstron) Norberg. Mrs. Olson came to 
America at the age of nineteen. 

After their marriage they located on a farm west of Galva in Henry 
County, Illinois. They began with practically no money but had that hard 
working energy and thrift which are characteristic of the Swedis'h people. 
In spite of increasing expenses in the maintenance of the household, there 
was a steady accumulation against a rainy day and for the future, and suc- 
cess was only a question of time with them. 

In 1898 Mr. and Mrs. Olson came to Champaign County and for fifteen 
years farmed as renters in Compromise Township. All those years they lived 
steadily on one farm, and that fact alone is a fine testimonial to their effi- 
ciency and general worth. Out of their slowly growing accumulations they 
were then able to buy eighty acres in Harwood Township and subsequently 
135 acres in Compromise Township. These tracts of land they sold to buy 
their present fine farm of 320 acres in Compromise Township, formerly the 
Dickerson home in section 19. 

In the meantime there had come into their hearts and home nine chil- 
dren : Emily, Elof, Albert, Fred, Selma, Oscar, Ella, John and Eric. All 
of them learned their lessons in the district schools, while Selma was a stu- 
dent in the Gifford High School. They made good records for themselves as 
students and they all speak and read English and Swedish and have a slight 
familiarity with the German language. The daughter Emily is now the wife 
of Henry Ackerman, and they have a son, Herman Ackerman. 

Mr. and Mrs. Olson are active members of the Lutheran Church. In 
1909-10 Mr. Olson served on the board of supervisors, and is a man whose 
judgment as well as action are entitled to the respect of the community. 
Politically he supports the Democratic party. As a farmer he has been 
highly successful with live stock, and 'has a large number of cattle, hogs and 
horses on his place. During the past year Mr. Olson received his record 
price for corn, selling it at $1.78 a bushel. He is one of the most reliable 
farmers and citizens of Champaign County. While they take just pride 
in their farm and their home and live stock, they have a greater pride in the 
boys and girls who have grown up under their roof. The boys are manly 
fellows, true types of Americans, and are dependable workers in the man- 
agement of the homestead. Mr. Olson owns his own threshing machine and 
sheller, and when confronted with a big job of work he has the boys to 
depend upon, each one able to take his place in handling machinery or the 
work of the farm. Mr. Olson in all his years of experience with his sons has 
never heard one of them say, "I don't want to do that." They have grown 
up with the realization that the interests of the family are all mutual, and 
this is no doubt one of the secrets of the success of the family. Another fact 
that should not be omitted is that in all these years Mr. Olson has had the 
co-operation and support of a good Christian wife, who has aided and coun- 
seled him for over a quarter of a century and has borne the chief responsi- 
bilities of educating and training her children. The Olson family have one 
of the most complete and attractive country homes in the entire county. 
Well back from the road is situated the house, surrounded by a splendid 
grove of trees and shrubs, and the whole constitutes a park, as though the 
master hand of a landscape artist had created it. The atmosphere of the 
farm and the home is also one compounded of industry and wholesome 
living, and all of this Mr. and Mrs. Olson have as their reward for many 
years of persevering labor, and labor has been the source of it all, since 
Mr. Olson has never once indulged in the speculative game and has taken 
only his just compensation for work honestly performed. 



684 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

FHANCIS G. JAQUES. One of the early and most prominent members 
of the Champaign County bar was Francis G. Jacques, who began practice 
here prior to the war and continued his work with unabating interest until 
his death on November 14, 1896. 

Mr. Jaques was born in New York City January 5, 1839, a son of 
Eobert Lee and Mary (Cooper) Jaques. Both parents were natives of 
New Jersey. Mr. Jaques was educated chiefly in New York City, studied 
law there, and also had a brief experience as a school teacher in Michigan. 
He came to Champaign at the age of eighteen, and was admitted to the 
bar before he attained his majority. His unusual talent, his thorough 
knowledge, and his well balanced character made him a successful figure 
in his profession and he was widely known arid esteemed all over eastern 
Illinois. 

On September 11, 1860, Mr. Jaques married Eliza J. Park, a native 
of Ohio. Mrs. Jaques survived her husband twenty years, passing away 
September 6, 1916. She was the mother of four children: William Park, 
of Urbana ; Minnie, assistant cashier of the Urbana Banking Company ; 
Eobert Lee, of Lafayette, Indiana; and Fred S., deceased. The late Mr. 
Jaques was thoroughly independent in his political affiliations. He was 
a Knight Templar Mason. 

SAMUEL MASON GREGG. The dignity of labor raises the farmer to a level 
of importance corresponding to that occupied by any class of producers. 
To labor long and faithfully, giving the best of one's ability and talent along 
any line of endeavor, is to fulfill the destiny of mankind and to make pos- 
sible a happy, contented old age. Samuel Mason Gregg, one of the substan- 
tial farmers and highly esteemed citizens in the vicinity of Rantoul, has 
made his life one of constant industry and honorable labor, and though 
always busy he has never failed to find time to make friends or contribute 
to the welfare and advancement of his community. 

Though a resident of Champaign County for many years, Mr. Gregg was 
born in Crab Orchard, a son of Samuel H. and Elizabeth (Singleton) Gregg. 
The parents were also natives of Kentucky, and during the childhood of 
Samuel M. Gregg removed to Illinois. Mr. Gregg had a common school edu- 
cation and was early trained to farming pursuits. 

On April 11, 1878, he married Miss Emma Hitz, a native of DeKalb 
County, Illinois, and a daughter of Frank and Catherine (Shaffer) Hitz. 
Her father was born in Switzerland and her mother in Germany, and they 
came as unmarried young people to America. They were married in Roches- 
ter, New York, then moved to Kendall County, Illinois, from there to 
DeKalb County, and located permanently in Champaign County in 1864. 
Mrs. Gregg received her early educational advantages in the Maple Grove 
district school of this county. 

After their marriage they started out as farmers, buying 160 acres in 
East Bend Township. One year later they moved to land owned by Mrs. 
Gregg's father, and then bought the 120 acres comprising their present 
homestead, located seven miles northwest of Rantoul. This land is in sec- 
tion 17. They took to their task as home makers the true spirit of the pio- 
neers. The land they bought had no buildings, no trees to furnish shade, 
and there stretched before them a long period of years to be filled with the 
hardest kind of labor in order to make a home and provide for the increasing 
responsibilities of existence. Both were people of strong character and 
ample energy, and while their earlier years were characterized by strict 
economy they long since were able to provide a beautiful home and commo- 
dious buildings for all their purposes. Their home stands on an elevation 
with the land sloping gently away from all sides, and their house is now 




SEMI-PRIVATE RKCEPTJON OFFICE 
TKi.KoitAPH OFFICE 
KniTORiAL ROOMS 
COMPOSING ROOM 



D. W. STEYICK 



I'UBLisiiEn's PRIVATE Ori'in: 

BrsixKss OFFICE 

STEREOTYPING AND PRESS ROOM 

\K\VS Brti.nixG, BUSINESS AND EDITORIAL KNTHAXCKS 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 685 

surrounded with trees and shrubs, making a park like environment. More 
beautiful shrubs cannot be found in the large city parks. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gregg have one son, Samuel Elza. He was educated in the 
local district schools and in 1908 graduated with honors from the Rantoul 
High School. Subsequently he entered the University of Illinois and took 
the mechanical engineering course, graduating in June, 1912. He then 
remained at home with his parents a year, and married Miss Etta J. 
Pontious, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. V. Pontious. Mrs. Samuel E. 
Gregg was educated in the Rantoul High School and was also a student of 
a business college at Champaign, where she prepared for work as a stenogra- 
pher. Whije it was the purpose and ambition of the son to follow mechan- 
ical engineering as a profession, his parents wisely persuaded him to locate 
near them, and he is now doing that most useful of all work, farming, and 
manages a 100 acre place a mile and a quarter southwest of the home of his 
parents. He is industrious and capable, and has the thorough technical 
education that makes him equal to all emergencies. 

Mrs. Gregg and son are active members of the Christian Church at Ran- 
toul. In politics he is a Democrat, and has served as school director. 
Mr. Gregg is one of the dairy farmers of Champaign County, and has a herd 
of twenty blooded Jerseys, beautiful and productive animals such as would 
constitute a fine asset to any farm. Mr. Gregg uses them for the production 
of cream, which is shipped to the Chicago market. 

D. W. STEVICK. The people of Champaign County appreciate the 
ability and tbe achievements of D. W. Stevick, chiefly through the medium 
of his newspaper, The Champaign Daily News. Progress has always been 
the keynote of Mr. Stevicfs life. He has been inspired with "that delightful 
discontent which the hope of better things inspires," and this has given 
meaning and potency to his efforts as a newspaper man. 

When he came into possession of The Champaign Daily News, he was 
well aware of the deplorable conditions existing relative to the strongly 
entrenched liquor forces, and had a thorough understanding of the stu- 
pendous task he was undertaking in combating them. He faced the issues 
squarely, and with an invincible spirit of confidence and hope undertook 
to lay bare tlie existing facts to the public, feeling they had a right to 
know. 

As is always true in such matters, the bitterest opposition arose from 
the friends and supporters of the traffic. Ridicule, sarcasm and misrepre- 
sentation were all brought to bear upon the gallant young editor. Like a 
true soldier he met successfully every attempt of the enemy to discomfort 
him. With the heartiest support of the best class of the people in Cham- 
paign County, he demonstrated that when a people unitedly determined 
to stamp out existing evils they are bound to win. Mr. Stevick has 
raised the standard of civic righteousness and morality in the county of 
Champaign, and it can be said to the credit of the people that he has 
found an army of the best men and women in the county as loyal supporters. 
The state of Illinois can be congratulated in possessing such men as Mr. 
Stevick. Though a young man, Mr. Stevick has made an enviable 
record for himself. He has accomplished more in the brief years of 
his editorial experience than many men have accomplished in a lifetime. 
That he was successful is shown by the fact that he was but twenty-eight 
years of age when he acquired the ownership of The News, and was then 
one of the youngest publishers of a large newspaper in this country. 

It has been said of our forefathers that in laying the foundation of 
this great republic they planted their bulwarks as they went the church 
and the free school and they builded better than they knew. Of Mr. 

211 



686 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Stevick's accomplishment in a brief time, it can also be said that in 
this enterprise he has accomplished more than his most sanguine expecta- 
tions led him to expect. 

For this reason a brief history of his life will be interesting. He first 
saw the light of day February 7, 1887, in Hutchinson, Kansas, a son of 
William Henry and Jennie (Getter) Stevick. His parents were born in 
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and soon after their marriage removed 
to Kansas, where the father engaged in the real estate business. They had 
four children, including three daughters. Farie Dell, the oldest of the 
daughters, is the wife of Prof. 0. R. Skinner of Bloomington, Illinois. 
She was a graduate of the Conservatory of Music of Cincinnati, Ohio, and 
is now instructor with her husband in the 0. R. Skinner School at Bloom- 
ington. The second daughter, Marie Ella, is teacher of art in the Skinner 
School at Bloomington. She is a very talented artist, and her work 
has received high praise by the discriminating art critics of Chicago and 
other art centers. The third daughter, Isabel, is vocal instructor in 
the Skinner School, and the wife of Harry K. Roush of Bloomington. 

When thirteen years of age D. W. Stevick began making his own living. 
For two years he drove a delivery wagon and then found work as office 
boy and collector at the Daily Bulletin in Bloomington, Illinois. He was 
with that journal thirteen years, going to the top of the ladder of that 
newspaper. For years he was in full charge of the advertising, studying 
that phase of the business with such attention 'that he soon became an 
authority on the subject. The past and the present proves him to be a 
thoroughly ground newspaper man. 

August 29, 1910, Mr. Stevick married Miss Helen M. Taylor, daughter 
of Wilson E. and Mary (Miller) Taylor. Her father is a native of Ohio 
and her mother of Indiana. They were the parents of three sons and 
one daughter: Roy, Gail, Joseph and Helen. The Taylor family for many 
years have lived in Texas. Mrs. Stevick went to Bloomington from Texas 
to attend the 0. R. Skinner School, where she graduated in music. Mr. 
and Mrs. Stevick have one daughter, Marajen, a bright young lady of 
five years. Mr. and Mrs. Stevick are active members of the Christian 
Church. Politically he favors the principles of the Republican party, 
but is broad in his views and gives his support to the man who serves 
the public best. Fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias. 

As a newspaper manager his work is entitled to great credit and 
undoubtedly a great future is in store for him. He has established an 
atmosphere of co-operative sociability in The Champaign Daily News, so 
that all subscribers feel they belong to one large family working for the 
good of the general public. The visitor observing the perfect order and 
system of The Daily News plant, and understanding its growth and develop- 
ment and its influence as a molder of public opinion, is reminded of 
the words : 

"0 what a glory doth this world put on 
For him who, with a fervent heart, goes forth 
Under the bright and glorious sky 
And looks on duties well performed, and days well spent." 



On the first day of September, 1915, E. R. Mickelberry and D. W. 
Stevick purchased The Champaign Daily News from E. B. Chapin. It 
was at that time Champaign's largest and best newspaper, but the develop- 
ment that was to come for The News could only be seen in advance by Mr. 
Stevick. The fifteen minute telephone news service from Springfield was 
increased fifteen minutes, a new linotype machine, many fonts of new type 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 687 

and other equipment were added and the -old machinery of The News thor- 
oughly overhauled. Still more news was given to the people, later news, 
better news, and the already large circulation increased remarkably. Soon 
another linotype was purchased and the thirty minute wire service was 
changed to a longer service. The new owners could see no reason why 
the people of Champaign-Urbana and vicinity were not entitled to just 
as good a newspaper as other Illinois towns had been favored with for 
years; therefore the full leased wire of the International News Service wa's 
taken on, giving to the people of Champaign-Urbana and vicinity for the 
first time in history the world's news on the day it happened. Previous to 
this time almost all of the foreign news read by the people of this district 
was set up in Chicago and shipped to Champaign by express. In December, 
1915, Mr. Stevick purchased his partner's interest and became sole owner 
of The News. 

The News needed more room and the beautiful business lot located 
at 134-36-38 West Church Street was purchased and plans completed for 
a five-story building with a modern newspaper plant on the ground floor 
and a hotel above. Business changes, however, compelled The News to be 
moved earlier than it was possible to construct its new home, and the large 
four-story Miller building was purchased and there completed one of the 
most modern newspaper plants in the entire West. Another lintoype 
machine and a mammoth 32-page Goss press outfit were installed. New 
type throughout gave the appearance of The News a very noticeable bright- 
ness. The News continued to flourish, in its new home. It was the con- 
stant aim of the publisher to improve the News, and on August 19, 1917, 
a new publication was added The Champaign Sunday News. This Sunday 
newspaper was not a small country paper, but was builded on metropolitan 
ideas, having all the local news with the full leased wire report of the 
Associated Press, the best four-page colored comic section that American 
artists produced, features for women, continued stories, a page for the 
farmer and his family, a full-page sport page edited by one of the best 
sport writers in the country, puzzles and fairy stories for the children. 

On May 4, 1917, Mr. Stevick was elected to membership in the Asso- 
ciated Press, quite an honor considering that it is a custom of this associa- 
tion to have but one member in a territory and that the Associated Press 
had had for many years a member in Champaign who used a small news 
report of that association. This member protested against the election 
to membership of Mr. Stevick, but the board of directors of the association 
overruled the objection. The Champaign Daily News then gave to the 
people of this vicinity for the first time the daily report of full leased 
wire service of the Associated Press. The News was also elected to 
membership in the American Newspaper Publishers' Association, one 
of the strongest associations in the world, and was also made a mem- 
ber of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, and is the only newspaper in this 
district that is a member of all three of these organizations. Two years 
after Mr. Stevick purchased The Champaign Daily News it had changed 
from a two-linotype and a 12-page press equipped newspaper to six linotypes, 
a 32-page Goss press, the full Associated Press telegraphic wire news report, 
a member of A. N. P. A., 156 employes, its circulation greatly increased, 
located in its own building and had grown to be Eastern Illinois' greatest 
newspaper. 

CHARLES F. OEHMKE, assistant postmaster of Urbana, has been con- 
tinuously identified with the postoffice in that city for the past eleven 
years. He was formerly a successful teacher. He is a native of Cham- 
paign County, where he was born January 22, 1880. His parents were 



688 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

John Fred and Elizabeth (Schultz) Oehmke, both natives of Germany. 
John F. Oehmke came to America at the age of seventeen and at once 
located in Champaign County. He had experience as a farmer, also in 
the marble works, and subsequently bought a farm, which he cultivated 
until his death in 1910. His widow is still living in Gifford, Champaign 
County. John F. Oehmke was honored with several township offices, and 
was a man of capable work and citizenship in this county. He and his 
wife had fourteen children: William, of Larchwood, Iowa; Louis Frank, 
deceased ; Fred, of North Dakota ; Louisa, deceased ; Charles F. ; Edward, 
of Larchwood, Iowa; John, a farmer of Fennel d, Illinois; Henry, of 
Oklahoma City; Eose, wife of J. T. Michaels, of Oklahoma City; Emma, 
deceased; Martin, of East St. Louis, Illinois; Walter, of Detroit, Michi- 
gan ; Minnie, still at home ; and Frank, of Pomeroy, Iowa. 

Mr. Charles F. Oehmke was educated in the common schools and had 
six months of high school training. He had also nine weeks of summer 
terms in the University of Illinois. At the age of seventeen he became a 
regular hand on the farm, and after three years in that occupation took 
up school teaching. He taught six years altogether, most of the time in 
the country schools, but during the last year in the Philo grammar school. 

On July 13, 1906, Mr. Oehmke passed the civil service examination 
and since then has been connected with the Urbana postoffice, at first as 
clerk but now as assistant postmaster. 

He married November 15, 1908, Miss Bertha J. Eyestone, a native of 
Champaign. They have two children : Irene and Charles McDonald. Mr. 
Oehmke is a Democrat in politics, a member of the Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks and the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

CHARLES H. WATTS. Educational work is very exacting in the 
demands which it makes upon its devotees. Ostensibly the duty of the 
instructor is to instill in each of his pupils a proper and practical working 
knowledge; but equally important is his correlative, though less direct, 
function of instilling character and worthy precepts through his unavoid- 
able personal influence. The first duty calls for an individual of 
knowledge and specialized training; the second for a capable and con- 
scientious person whose manner of life and mode of living provide a fit 
criterion for the younger generation. When a man combines the 
possession of these attributes with the exclusion of strongly detrimental 
characteristics, the early years of future citizens may be safely entrusted 
to his care. Such a man is Charles H. Watts, county superintendent of 
schools of Champaign County and the incumbent of this office for fifteen 
years. His entire career has been devoted to the instruction of the 
young and he has gained a reputation as an educator which extends far 
beyond the limits of his immediate home community. 

Mr. Watts was born November 16, 1867, in Coles County, Illinois, and 
is a son of Sinclair and Martha (Holiday) Watts, the former a native 
of Kentucky and the latter of Indiana. The parents of Mr. Watts came 
to Illinois about the year 1860, and when the Civil War came on the 
father enlisted as a private in the Seventy-third Eegiment, Illinois Volun- 
teer Infantry, with which he served for a period of one year. The rigors 
of army life were too great for him, and after an illness he was invalided 
home and honorably discharged because of disability. When he had 
recovered Mr. Watts, who had made a good record for bravery and faithful 
discharge of duty, resumed farming operations, in which he had been 
engaged up to the time of his enlistment. He was an industrious agri- 
culturist, who prosecuted his operations energetically and directed them 
ably, and as a result won success in his fanning activities. In 1895 he 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 689 

retired from active pursuits and took up his residence at Champaign, 
where he now makes his home, Mrs. Watts' having passed away in that 
city October 31, 1914. They were the parents of four children, namely: 
Charles H.; William, who is a resident of Ypsilanti, Michigan; Sadie, 
who is the wife of Clay Gaunier, of Alvin, Illinois; and Mrs. Ovanda 
Martin, a widow, living at Longview. 

Charles H. Watts attended the public schools of Champaign County, 
Illinois, and divided his time in his youth between his studies and the 
work of the homestead property of his father. As he grew to young 
manhood he evidenced a studious nature, and when he was eighteen years 
of age was sent to Danville, Indiana, where he attended the Danville 
College, a private institution, for one year. At that time he entered 
upon his career as an educator, and for three years taught in the public 
schools, but, realizing the need of further knowledge of an advanced 
character, he resumed his own studies, this time in a private school at 
Ada, Ohio, where he remained for three years. Once more he took up 
teaching, and with his advanced knowledge progressed rapidly in his 
calling, so that he was soon known as one of the best educators in the 
county. This reputation naturally brought his name to the forefront, 
and when the election for county superintendent of schools of Champaign 
County came on in 1902 he was chosen for the office, which he has filled 
to the present time, having been chosen through consecutive elections. 
Mr. Watts has met with very agreeable success in his chosen line of work. 
From the start he has been exceptionally well fitted for .the duties and 
responsibilities involved, and he has invariably given his best efforts toward 
the progress and advancement of Champaign County's schools. He has 
manifested a personal interest where some others might have shown only 
a business obligation, and has established in the hearts of his former 
and present students and co-workers a warm tenderness and respect. 

Mr. Watts was married July 21, 1896, to Miss Blanche Irwin, a native 
of Champaign County, and a daughter of James W. and Margaret 
(Fisher) Irwin, the latter deceased, and the former now a resident of 
Longview, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Watts are the parents of two children: 
Helen, who was born April 30, 1897; and Harold H., born May 18, 1906. 
Mr. Watts is a Republican in his political tendencies. He affiliates 
fraternally with the Masons and Knights of Pythias, is also a member 
of the Sons of Veterans, and, with his family, belongs to the Presbyterian 
Church. 

FREMONT McMiLLEN. After spending his early youth in Champaign 
County, Fremont McMillen made choice of the various vocations and 
professions and determined to become a farmer, a business in which he 
had been thoroughly trained as a youth. He has never had any substantial 
reasons to regret that early choice, since his years of labor have brought 
him profitable rewards, the esteem of a large community, and ample means 
for his family and those dependent upon him. Mr. McMillen has one 
of the fine farms in Champaign Township on Rural Route No. 3 out of 
Champaign. 

Though a resident of Champaign County most of his life, he was born 
near Logansport, Indiana, June 15, 1856, a son of William and Rosanna 
(Henderson) McMillen. His parents were both born in Ohio. In 1859 
they came to Champaign County and acquired . a farm in section 4 of 
Champaign Township. Here the parents lived out the rest of their useful 
and honored lives, and both of them passed away in this county. There 
were nine children, the first, a daughter, dying in infancy; Franklin 
and Lucinda are also deceased; Susan lives at Logansport, Indiana, the 



690 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

widow of F. Gotchell; Newton, Isabella and Lucretia are all deceased; 
Joseph lives in Grand Junction, Colorado, and the ninth and youngest is 
Fremont. 

Mr. Fremont McMillen, after arriving at the age of twenty and after 
completing his education in the local schools, rented the home farm of 
110 acres and continued its active 'management under his control until 1905. 
In that year he bought another place of 161 acres in the same section, 
and now has both farms tinder his ownership and management, including 
271 acres. It is all in seclion 4 of Champaign Township. His efforts have 
been expended most profitably as a general farmer and in the dairy industry. 
In 1909 Mr. McMillen erected one of the fine country homes of Cham- 
paign County, a two-story residence with every modern facility and 
equipment. 

In June, 1888, he married Miss Laura Curtis. They have three chil- 
dren: Ethel, now deceased; Bessie, wife of William Ehler of Rockwell, 
Iowa; and Nellie, wife of John Schwengel, who occupies the old McMillen 
farm. Mr. and Mrs. McMillen are active members of the Presbyterian 
Church. He is a Republican. Mrs. McMillen has been prominent in the 
Woman's Club at Champaign, was registrar of the club and for four years 
was treasurer of its music and drama department. 

Mrs. McMillen is a daughter of George F. and Elizabeth (Barnum) 
Curtis, her father having been a pioneer in Champaign County. Her 
mother died December 24, 1914. Mrs. McMillen was the oldest in a 
family of six children, two of them dying in infancy. Her brother Elmer 
lives in Champaign Township; her sister Elizabeth is the wife of Professor 
J. Sammes of the University of Wisconsin faculty; and her brother John 
W. is a farmer in Champaign Township. 

SAMUEL L. BURWASH. It was more than half a century ago, when 
he was a small boy, that Samuel L. Burwash first knew Champaign County. 
He was identified during his active career with the agricultural element. 
It is in agriculture that Champaign County has found its greatest pros- 
perity during this period. Mr. Burwash was not an unimportant factor 
in that development. He prospered as did all the other progressive 
farmers of his time, and in recent years has enjoyed the fruits of his 
earlier toil and is now living comfortably in Champaign. 

He was born in Eastern Canada, near Montreal, November 16, 1851, 
a son of Samuel and Lois (Barber) Burwash, who were also natives of 
Canada. His father was a farmer by occupation. In 1860 the family 
removed to Edgar County, Illinois, and during the three years spent there 
the mother died. From Edgar County Samuel Burwash moved to Cham- 
paign County, and continued here an active farmer until his death. He 
and his wife had eight children, the first two of whom died in infancy. 
Besides Samuel L., the others are: T. N., a retired physician at Cham- 
paign ; Delia M., deceased ; Milo B. and Carrie, both unmarried and living 
together in Champaign; and Ella, deceased. 

Until he was twenty-two years of age Samuel L. Burwash lived in his 
father's home. An education suitable for his future needs was acquired in 
the local schools. In the meantime he had become a practical farmer by 
training and experience, and on leaving home he and his brother Milo 
rented land and were partnership farmers. In the meantime they worked 
the old homestead. This was their plan of business operations for a num- 
ber of years. Still in partnership, they bought a hundred sixty acres 
and made a specialty of raising grain for the market. Their partnership 
continued with mutual profit and advantage for a number of years, after 
which Mr. Samuel Burwash went for himself and farmed in Champaign 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 691 

County for a quarter of a century. In 1910 he was able to retire with a 
financial competence, and removed to Champaign. In 1914 he built a hand- 
some brick residence at 714 West Green Street in Champaign, and has 
occupied that modern home since November of that year. Mr. Burwash 
has been a Eepublican since casting his first vote, and he and his wife are 
active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Mr. Burwash was married November 15, 1885, to Miss Margaret Mc- 
Cullough, a native of Champaign County and member of an old and prom- 
inent family of this section. Her parents, Alexander W. and Elizabeth 
H. (Seylar) McCullough, were both born in Pennsylvania. Her father 
came to Champaign County in 1854, locating on a farm south of Urbana, 
and lived there until his death in January, 1899. Mrs. Burwash's widowed 
mother died July 19, 1909. In their family were nine children: James 
S. and Sarah J., deceased; Adeline C., wife of W. N. Ramey, of Missouri; 
Annie Elizabeth, widow of John Bond, of Tolono; Frank F., living in 
California; Mrs. Margaret Burwash; Albert C., of Urbana Township; 
Benjamin T., deceased; John, a resident of Urbana Township. Mr. and 
Mrs. Burwash have no children. 

AUGUSTUS M. EVANS. In the administration of the affairs of county 
government the duties of few offices are more important than are those 
of the sheriff. To occupy this position acceptably the incumbent must 
be a man of unquestioned courage, for even in the most law-abiding 
communities he is frequently called upon to face situations demanding 
quick, decisive and fearless action ; he must possess no inconsiderate amount 
of detective ability, to be used in the solving of perplexing cases, and he 
must, withal, be a man of executive ability and force of character in order 
to inspire respect in his community. Champaign County is fortunate in 
the possession of a capable sheriff who measures up to the standard set 
above. Augustus M. Evans has held the shrievalty since 1914, and prior 
to that time had gained much experience in the office of deputy. He is a 
former newspaper man and well known to the people of the county who 
have watched 'his good official work with satisfaction. 

Augustus M. Evans was born in Brown County, Ohio, May 22, 1867, 
and is a son of George M. and Elizabeth A. (Park) Evans, both of whom 
were born in the Buckeye State. The family came to Champaign County 
about the year 1868, settling first at Tolono, where George M. Evans fol- 
lowed the trade of carpenter. In 1882 he removed with his family to 
Champaign, and in that city continued to follow his chosen vocation up 
to the time of his death. Mrs. Evans also passed away in that city. There 
were three children in the family, namely : Charles G. ; who is now 
deceased ; William A. ; and Augustus M. 

Augustus M. Evans was an infant when brought to Illinois by his 
parents, and the greater part of his schooling was secured in the public 
schools of Tolono. His real education came, however, after he had located 
at Champaign. There, in 1882, when he was fifteen years of age, he 
joined the force of the Champaign Gazette, and during the next twenty- 
nine years worked his way through various positions, seeing all sides of 
newspaper life and making a large acquaintance throughout the country. 
His experience in this connection brought him into contact with all kinds 
and manner of people and secured for him a wealth of information that 
has proved of the greatest value to him in his official work. Mr. Evans' 
connection with the Gazette office was severed in 1911, when he was 
appointed deputy sheriff. He remained in that capacity until 1914, when 
he became the candidate for the office of sheriff on the Republican ticket, 
and was successful at the polls, receiving a handsome majority. He has 



692 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

discharged the duties of his office well, and during his administration 
Champaign County has been singularly free from the presence of criminals 
and evil-doers. 

On November 12, 1890, Sheriff Evans was united in marriage with 
Miss Kate Sharp, who was born in Champaign County, and to this union 
there has been born one son : Harry S., who is serving in the capacity of 
deputy sheriff. Sheriff Evans is a stanch Republican and has for a long 
period been an active worker in the ranks of his party. He believes in 
the benefit and enjoyment to be derived from membership in fraternal 
orders, and is at this time affiliated with the local lodges of the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and the Modern Woodmen of America, in all of which he has numerous 
friends. 

J. E. FULLER. The Fuller home is a mile and three-quarters south- 
east of Ludlow, in section 8 of Harwood Township. It is a home of com- 
forts and superior improvements, and is the domicile of people whose 
character and activities tend to raise the general standard of community 
life in Champaign County. 

Mr. Fuller was born in Michigan, son of Dexter and Elizabeth Ann 
(Curtis) Fuller. His parents were born in Massachusetts, moved from 
there to Ohio and finally to Michigan. J. K. Fuller was educated in 
Michigan schools, completing his training in a seminary at Spring Arbor 
in that state, where he graduated in 1884. Following that for a number 
of years he was a successful teacher both in Michigan and also in Champaign 
County. 

Mr. Fuller married Miss Jennie Pearson. She was born in Mason 
County, Illinois, a daughter of Eobert and Mary (Fletcher) Pearson, 
both of whom are natives of England, but came to this country when still 
single. Mrs. Fuller was the second in a family of five children. She 
attended the district schools, the college at Paxton, Illinois, and was mar- 
ried at the age of twenty-four. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Fuller located at their present 
home place, and that has been their continuous residence ever since. Here 
they have 160 acres and the passing years have witnessed many improve- 
ments in their surroundings and have also endeared the home to them by 
many happy associations. 

To their marriage were born five children. One died in infancy and the 
others are named Nanny, Robitine, Horace and Fred. To fit these chil- 
dren for the responsible duties of life Mr. and Mrs. Fuller sent them to 
the local district school, where all of them finished the eighth grade. The 
daughter Nanny became a student in' the Northwestern University at 
Evanston, Illinois, where she took the liberal arts course, specializing in 
English. The girls have also had piano instruction, and music is one of 
the features of the Fuller home. The daughter Robitine attended the high 
school at Paxton, where she graduated in 1915. She is now the capable 
helper to her mother in the home. Nanny taught her first school in 
Harwood Center during 1911-12, had the Martin school for two years, and 
then one year in the old home school district, the Gallagher school. Miss 
Nanny has been superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school 
at Ludlow. The son Fred is active in the work of the home farm. The 
other son, Horace, now lives in North Dakota, near Arthur. He married 
Sarah Van Schoyck of Ludlow. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller have always endeav- 
ored to carry out the principles of her father who taught his children 
strict loyalty to the flag and country which gave them protection. In 
church affairs the Fuller family are active in the Methodist Episcopal 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 693 

Church at Ludlow and are liberal supporters of that organization. Mrs. 
Fuller and her daughter Eobitine are both teachers in the Sunday school. 
In politics Mr. Fuller is a Democrat, and all of them have rendered sup- 
port to the prohibition movement, Mrs. Fuller being active in the local 
W. C. T. U. Fraternally they are members of the Court of Honor, and 
Mr. Fuller and his sons belong to the Modern Woodmen of America. 

Mrs. Fuller is not only a most capable home maker but has proved her 
executive ability as a farm manager. For a number of summers Mr. 
Fuller has lived in North Dakota, looking after his farm there, and during 
his absence Mrs. Fuller has assumed the active management of the home 
farm, being assisted by her son and daughters. The Fuller farm at Ludlow 
is appropriately called Maple Hurst. Recently the farm residence was 
remodeled into a modern home, and Mrs. Fuller superintended every detail 
of. this work. They now have one of the most complete country homes 
of Harwood Township. 

GEORGE C. FAIHCLO. Champaign County is rapidly becoming noted 
for the excellence of its roads, and at the present rate of progress will 
before long rank with the leading counties in the state in this direction. 
A number of years ago the people came to a realization of the fact that prog- 
ress and prosperity, both in the country districts and in the cities and 
towns, depended largely upon the condition of the roads, but it has been 
only in comparatively recent years that steps have been taken to improve 
in the fullest degree the highways of this section. In this work one who 
has been and is very active is George C. Fairclo, who since December, 1913, 
has occupied the office of county superintendent of highways of Champaign 
County. A man of comprehensive training and broad experience, he has 
brought to his labors an energy and enthusiasm that have aided greatly 
in the accomplishment of big things, and some of his vim and spirit has 
been caught by the citizens, a number of whom have been awakened to 
existing conditions. 

Mr. Fairclo is a product of the agricultural country of Illinois, hav- 
ing been born on a farm near Kingston in De Kalb County, May 13, 1877, 
his parents being Isaiah D. and Sarah E. (Parker) Fairclo. His father, a 
native of New Jersey, was a lad when he came from that State to Illinois, 
about 1850, and at that time located on a farm in De Kalb County. There 
he developed into a first-class agriculturist and developed a good property, 
accumulating at the same time a competence that allowed him to retire 
from active pursuits in 1896 and remove to Champaign, where his death 
occurred six years later. He was a Republican in politics, but did not 
take any active part in public matters, and he and his wife were members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Fairclo, who survives her hus- 
band, makes her home at Champaign. There were two children in the 
family: Elizabeth Temperance, who is the wife of Shields A. Elaine of 
Champaign; and George C. 

George C. Fairclo attended the graded schools of Sycamore, Illinois, 
and in June, 1905, graduated from the high school there. He grew up" 
on the home farm, but it was not his intention to take up an agricultural 
career, as his inclinations ran in another direction, one which necessitated 
the securing of an advanced education. Shortly after he left high school 
he enrolled as a student of civil engineering at the University of Illinois, 
and graduated with his degree in 1902, but during this time, in order to 
pay his expenses, he worked three years in the service of the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad and for the Chicago-Wilmington-Vermilion Coal Company, 
in the capacity of engineer. After graduating from the university he 
worked for the Union Pacific Railroad from June, 1902, until September, 



694 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

1903, at which latter date he was appointed city engineer of Urbana. He 
retained that office until May, 1905, when he became city engineer of 
Champaign, and remained as such until May, 1909. Mr. Fairclo then 
opened an office and engaged in private practice as a consulting engineer 
at Champaign, but in December, 1913, he was once again called into 
public service when elected county superintendent of highways for Cham- 
paign County. In discharging the duties of his position Mr. Fairclo has 
been conscientious and energetic. He has brought his wide experience to 
bear upon the problems facing his department in the improvement of 
highway conditions, and his achievements have undoubtedly proven an 
important factor in advancing the interests of the agricultural country, 
while at the same time contributing materially to the comfort and enjoy- 
ment of the motoring class, which has grown so greatly in numbers during 
recent years. Mr. Fairclo in his political affiliation is a Eepublican. He 
fraternizes with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his 
religious connection is with the Presbyterian Church. His offices are 
located in the courthouse at Urbana. 

Mr. Fairclo was married December 7, 1907, at Champaign, Illinois, 
to Miss Mabel Lindsay, who was born at Onarga, this state. They have 
no children. 

REV. ERNEST MOEHL. The wealth of Champaign County does not 
consist alone in broad lands and money and other material things, but in 
its people of sterling worth and integrity of character. Among those who 
have devoted themselves to the molding of character and the improvement 
of spiritual conditions is Rev. Ernest Moehl, pastor of the German Evan- 
gelical Church of Flatville. 

Rev. Mr. Moehl was born in Hersfeld, near Cassel, Germany, a son of 
John and Dorothy (Auding) Moehl. His father was a teacher in the old 
country. The family consisted of ten children, seven sons and three daugh- 
ters, Ernest being the oldest son. 

He received his education in German schools, including collegiate 
training, and graduated in the spring of 1881. In the fall of that year 
he came to the United States, for the purpose of fitting himself for minis- 
terial labors in America. He pursued his course in Wartburg Seminary 
at Mendota, Illinois, from 1881 to 1884, and in the latter year went to 
Nebraska, where he was ordained in the German Evangelical Church. His 
first charge was at Waterloo, Iowa, where he remained more than ten 
years. 

While there he went to Mendota, Illinois, and married Miss Charlotte 
Fritschel. She was born in Iowa, a daughter of Sigmund and Margaret 
(Brottengeier) Fritschel, both natives of Germany. Mrs. Moehl was reared 
and educated in Mendota, Illinois, and they were married in the German 
church there. After their marriage they went to Iowa, and four children 
were born to them : Hedwig, Emma, Hilda and Erna. The two younger 
daughters are now attending the grade schools at Flatville. Hedwig and 
Emma received their education at Dubuque and Ottumwa, Iowa. Emma 
graduated from a seminary at Waverly, Iowa, and fitted herself for work 
as a teacher, which she has followed very successfully for a number of years. 
She is now teaching in the German school at Flatville, being instructor in 
German and English. She is a young lady of many accomplishments and 
assists her father as organist in the church. Hedwig is devoting her time 
to the home interests. 

In October, 1895, Rev. Mr. Moehl removed from Iowa to Champaign 
County, entering a new field of work as pastor of the German Evangelical 
Church at Flatville. For twenty-one years he has gone in and out among 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN. COUNTY 695 

these good people as a preacher and an instructor on the important things 
of life, preparing them for a truer and better citizenship not only in this 
life but in that which is to come. 

His congregation has grown and prospered and with prosperity there 
came a recognition of the need for a larger and better edifice in which to 
worship. Mr. Moehl laid this cause before his people, a committee was 
appointed, plans were carefully studied, and with the enthusiastic co-opera- 
tion of his parishioners the work was begun and has resulted in a beautiful 
and imposing Gothic church building, which is one of the finest in Cham- 
paign County. It is built of Hytex brick and sandstone, cost $50,000 and 
was dedicated January 26, 1915. The broad steps in front lead to the 
main entrance, arid the auditorium is reached through three glass folding 
doors. Over these doors on the stained glass is the inscription in German, 
"Beware your feet, if you come to the House of the Lord and come that 
you may hear." The auditorium is a wonderful work of art, containing 
many stained glass windows with life size pictures of biblical scenes and 
characters. One of the figures is Luther, another is Paul, and on a large 
south window is Christ represented in the home of Mary and Martha. 
There) are mural paintings representing the shepherds at Bethlehem, 
Christ blessing the children, Christ walking on the water, while back of 
the altar are six paintings representing Easter scenes and the Apostles 
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The pulpit is in the Gothic style to cor- 
respond with the architectural harmony of the building, and there is a 
fine pipe organ. A complete individual plant supplies electric light. 

The first church of this congregation was erected in 1874 and stood 
until 1887. The second church was used from 1887 until 1914, and then 
a temporary structure during 1914-15 until the completion of the new 
building. Below the cornerstone of the present church is the cornerstone 
of the old one, containing the inscription of date of erections. The church 
has a membership of 135 families. It is the center of a lively picture on 
Sundays when automobiles bring the worshipers from near and far. There 
is a large Sunday school of interested children. 

Rev. Mr. Moehl has conducted a German school during the years he 
has spent at Flatville for the benefit of the children of the church. There 
the Bible is taught daily, in addition to literary studies. 

Rev. Mr. Moehl is a man of broad and liberal views and in politics is a 
Republican. He is a fine type of the American citizen and has always 
been proud of his American home and has made his work a factor in the 
building up of loyalty to country as well as in the education of his people 
for the other conditions of life here and later. Rev. Mr. Moehl's experi- 
ences since coming to America have been both pleasant and congenial, and 
here he has found his work and has never had cause to regret the influences 
that led him away from the land of his birth. 

HARRY C. KARIHER, M. D. Perhaps no call is so insistent in man as 
that of personal service to others. It is one of the beautiful elements of 
humanity; it lies at the root of religion and permeates every brotherhood 
organization. 

The appeal for help made by the physically sick and maimed has led 
many a noble-hearted young man to prepare for and devote himself to 
the arduous profession of medicine, occasionally thereby to a large extent 
turning aside from the pleasures of the leisurely life that ample means 
might have afforded him, finding compensation in the knowledge of the 
facts of science and his ability to helpfully apply them. It can but be 
acknowledged that no body of men as a class give so much of themselves 
to others as do physicians and surgeons, and that individually few men of 



696 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

this profession have ever been known to turn a deaf ear to suffering they 
could relieve. The city of Champaign has, among other advantages, a 
skilled and generous body of medical men, and an eminent representative is 
found in Dr. Harry C. Kariher, widely known in the state. 

Harry C. Kariher was born at Chicago, Illinois, September 22, 1878. 
His parents were Harry and Mary E. (Sullard) Kariher, the former of 
whom was born at Delphi, Indiana, and the latter in the State of New 
Jersey. For many years the father was engaged in the drug business in 
Champaign, building it up to great importance and thereby amassing a 
large fortune. The handsome Kariher business block stands as a monu- 
ment to his thrift and enterprise. Both he and wife were of the highest 
social standing and were beloved and respected by every one. H. C. 
Kariher, the elder, died in 1893 and his wife in 1895. 

Harry C. Kariher attended the public schools of Champaign, grad- 
uating creditably from the high school, after which for two years he was 
a student in the University of Illinois. Having determined on a medical 
career, the young man then entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, from 
which great school he was graduated in 1903. He returned then to Cham- 
paign and engaged here in practice for one year and then took advantage 
of a favorable medical opening at Seymour, .Illinois, and continued in that 
field for five years, returning then to Champaign, where he has large prop- 
erty interests to look after and a weighty practice that he never neglects, 
and in addition to these responsibilities is also county physician for Cham- 
paign Township. 

Doctor Kariher has one of the beautiful homes of the city and a happy 
domestic circle. He married Miss Gwendolyn Roberts, who is a daughter 
of Humphrey and Sarah C Williams) Roberts, old residents here, and they 
have one child, Harry Cullen. Doctor and Mrs. Kariher are members of 
the Emanuel Episcopal Church. In politics he has always been identified 
with the Republican party, believing in the justice of its principles. He is 
interested in different scientific bodies, is a member of the Knights of 
Pythias and belongs to the Country Club. 

ANTONY H. BLUE. The poet who said, "Sweet are the uses of adver- 
sity," had a true understanding of life's meaning, since it is true that 
those are happiest who have lived most and have had experiences in which 
the sweet and the bitter have been mingled. It is the prosperity and 
contentment won by years of faithful toil, self-sacrifice and economy that 
Mr. and Mrs. Antony H. Blue enjoy in their beautiful home south of 
Thomasboro. Mr. and Mrs. Blue have lived in Champaign County since 
1870. Years have brought their honest endeavors a full reward and 
besides their material possessions they present the picture of a true com- 
panionship, whole-souled personalities and hospitality and kindliness and 
generosity are everywhere in evidence. 

Both of them are natives of Germany. Antony H. Blue was born in 
North Germany in 1845, a son of Henry A. and Alma Blue. His father 
was a sailor and in 1863 lost his life in a shipwreck on the North Sea. 
The ship went down and all hands aboard perished. The country where 
Antony H. Blue lived as a boy bordered on the North Sea and nearly all 
the inhabitants were either sailors or fishermen. In those occupations 
Antony H. Blue had a complete apprenticeship and grew up strong, 
sturdy and self-reliant, always ready to face the dangers and difficulties 
unafraid. 

In October, 1869, he was married in his native land to Miss Eckeline 
Mayar, daughter of H. D. and Engel Mayar. She was also born in the 
north of Germany. It was in the nature of a wedding journey when 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 697 

Antony H. Blue and bride set their faces toward the New World in the 
spring of 1870, crossed the ocean and came inland until they arrived in 
Champaign County. They located in Eantoul Township, and their home 
lias never been more than two miles from where they first settled. They 
were among the early comers, and there were hardships and privations 
aimost without end until their toils were rewarded with comforts beyond 
their fondest anticipations. 

Tea children were born to their marriage, and five died in infancy. 
Those who grew up were named H. D., Henry, Alma, Carl and Albert. 
H. D. Blue is now a retired farmer at Webster City, Iowa. He married 
Maggie Carsons, and their children are Lena, Walter, Eleanor, Eaymond 
and Maggie. Henry Blue married Minnie Shoneman, and he is also a 
farmer at Webster City, Iowa. His children are Leona, Tony and Arthur. 
Alma Blue married for her first husband Cordy Buscher, and by that 
union there were three children, Henry, Gertrude and Eveline. For her 
second husband she married Henry Eihusen, and they have two small 
daughters. They are farmers and live near Hastings, Nebraska. Carl 
Blue lives on the old homestead in Champaign County, and by his mar- 
riage to Fannie Mathers has one daughter, Lena. Albert Blue was living 
at Webster City, Iowa, when he died as the result of an operation for 
appendicitis at the age of twenty-seven. He married Emma Breidentkamp 
and left two children, Dorothy and Louise. 

When Mr. and Mrs. Blue came to Champaign County they rented a tract 
of land to farm, and by severe application and economy they were justi- 
fied in making a contract about a year later to purchase eighty acres at 
$13 an acre. They gave a mortgage to the amount of $1,100 at 10 per 
cent interest. This land was on the prairie, and during part of every 
year it was almost covered with water. The year they bought the land 
was the year of the great Chicago fire, and lumber was very high priced 
and hard to get. They contented "themselves with very small buildings 
at first. Because of his early experience as a sailor perhaps Mr. Blue 
was not so much discomforted as many others would have been at the 
situation on almost a swamp. In times of high water he frequently took 
a boat and rowed between his farm and Bantoul. One advantage the 
swampy land possessed it was the rendezvous for countless ducks and other 
water fowl, and these birds furnished an abundance of meat for the table. 
Those early conditions have long since passed away. Land that was once 
an infertile swamp is now drained and is considered as productive as any 
farm land in Champaign County. Mr. Blue's efforts have brought him an 
estate of over 400 acres. 

Mr. and Mrs. Blue are regular attendants and members of the German 
Lutheran Church at Flatville, and their children were all baptized in the 
same faith. Politically he has been a Eepublican from the time he was 
granted his first rights as an American citizen. In all things he has 
been public spirited and has served as a member of the school board and 
for the last twenty-two years has been president of the Mutual Fire Insur- 
ance Company and also agent for the North German Lloyd Steamship 
Line. Mr. Blue has been able to revisit the fatherland several times, and 
in 1901 he made an extended trip of two months, being accompanied by his 
wife, and they visited old scenes and revived many old acquaintances 
among people whom they had known when they were children. 

ARTHUR T. WALLS. There are certain lines of business so necessary to 
the growth, life and comfort of a community that they have become 
standard, as it were, and fill a stable, definite place in the commercial 
world. They are solid and dependable and it is not unusual to find a 



698 , HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

business of this kind descending from father to son, and very often the 
old established firm name is carefully preserved. Such is the case with 
W. W. Walls & Company at Champaign, dealers in lumber, building mate- 
rial and coal, the able manager of the concern being Arthur T. Walls, 
who is recognized as one of the city's alert and representative business men. 

Arthur T. Walls was born in Fayette County, Illinois, February 2, 
1874, and was thirteen years old when his parents came to Champaign. 
His father, William W. Walls, was born in Indiana and died at Champaign 
August 22, 1908. His mother, who bore the maiden name of Josephine 
Tiemann, was born in Pennsylvania and now resides at Warsaw, Indiana, 
being the wife of James B. Babcock, whom she married some years after 
the death of her first husband. Five children were born to William W. and 
Josephine (Tiemann) Walls, namely: Arthur T. ; a son who died in 
infancy ; William W., who is deceased ; Katheryn, who is the wife of Harry 
Herrick, a well known business man of Champaign; and Glenn H., who is 
a resident of Champaign. 

Arthur T. Walls attended the public schools until he was seventeen 
years of age and then became associated in a clerical capacity with his 
father's lumber business. When William W. Walls came to Champaign in 
1887 he bought a partnership in a lumber business with M. E. Lapham 
and two years later bought Mr. Lapham's interest, at which time he 
adopted the firm -name of W. W. Walls & Company, which still prevails. 
He proved an able and successful business man and conducted his affairs 
wisely and built up an honorable business reputation. At his death his 
widow, his two sons and his daughter formed a stock company, incorpo- 
rating, and the business is so operated, with Arthur T. Walls as manager. 
He is well qualified, having passed his entire business life identified with 
this concern. 

On December 9, 1896, Mr. Walls was united in marriage with Miss 
Ellen Yates, who was born at Homer, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Walls have 
one daughter, Gwendolyn. They are members of the Presbyterian Church 
and in all movements of social uplift and public benevolence take an 
interested part. In political opinion Mr. Walls has always been a sup- 
porter of progressive principles, but has never been willing to accept 
political honors for himself. He is universally popular with his fellow 
citizens and is especially valued as a member of the local body of the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. 

JAMES R. WILLS. Special interest attaches to the career of James R. 
Wills of St. Joseph not only because of his long residence in that com- 
munity but also for the fact that he is one of the honored survivors of 
the great struggle between the North and the South in the '60s. Mr. 
Wills was one of the productive farmers of this county for fully forty 
years, and then turned over the heavier responsibilities to a younger gen- 
eration and with his good wife, who has traveled by his side for over half a 
century, is enjoying the comforts of a good home and the esteem of many 
friends in the village of St. Joseph. 

Mr. Wills is a Kentuckian by birth, born in Clark County, son of 
Elijah and Ruth (Beall) Wills. The Wills family came to Illinois in 
1855, first living in Edgar County and later locating at Urbana, where 
the mother died. James R, Wills received his education in the public 
schools of Kentucky and Illinois, and was twenty-three years of age when 
the war came on. He felt it a privilege as well as a duty to serve his 
country in that exciting time, and enlisted in Company K of the Twenty- 
fifth Illinois Infantry. His company was organized from men from 
Urbana and Homer. The record of this regiment was a splendid one. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 699 

It served in Arkansas with General Sigel's division, was at the battle of 
Pea Ridge, at Sedalia (Missouri), Paducah (Kentucky), and in many of 
the leading campaigns of the Middle West. Mr. Wills was a natural 
musician and played the fife in the regimental band, though he also carried 
a musket and did valiant duty as a private in many battles. He was not 
possessed of a vigorous constitution when he went to the war and finally 
his health became so undermined that he was discharged on account of 
disability. 

On May 6, 1866, about a year after the war closed, Mr. Wills married 
Miss Ella Crayne. A little more than a year ago they celebrated the 
golden anniversary of their wedding. Mrs. Wills was born in Covington, 
Indiana, June 20, 1848, a daughter of Levi and Elizabeth (De La Tourette) 
Crayne. Her mother was of French origin, as the name indicates, and 
the French words have a significance, "The keeper of little tower." Eliza- 
beth De La Tourette was born near Franklin, Ohio. Her father, John 
De La Tourette, grandfather of Mrs. Wills, was born on Staten Island, 
New York, in 1795, and married a girl from Monmouth, New Jersey, 
where she was born in 1799, of Holland Dutch parentage. John De La 
Tourette and wife had six sons and six daughters, most of whom lived 
near Covington, Indiana. It was a splendid family and all of them are 
now deceased except one son, Schuyler De La Tourette, who remains at 
the fine old Indiana home, enjoying the comforts of a brick house that 
was erected many years ago. Schuyler De La Tourette was captain of a 
company in the Civil War. He is now eighty-three years of age, but his 
years rest lightly upon him and he retains much of the soldierly bearing of 
his youth. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Wills located on his farm of 120 
acres in Stanton Township. Mrs. Wills had grown up there, her father 
being among the pioneer settlers. The Wills farm adjoined the farm 
of Mrs. Wills' father, and they began life there when all was open prairie. 
In 1866 they built a commodious house and it was their home for forty 
years. Many improvements and adornments were made in this time, 
including the planting of fruit and shade trees, the cultivation and main- 
tenance of fine fields of grain and pasture and the operation of a very 
successful farm. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wills became the parents of one son and one daughter. 
Charles Clifton was born September _ 7, 1867, and Bertha Florence was 
born January 2, 1872. The education of these children was carefully 
looked after and they have proved themselves worthy and equal to all the 
emergencies of life. Charles is a prosperous farmer in Compromise Town- 
ship of Champaign County, and is one of the men of judgment and capacity 
in that community, where he has served as school director and road com- 
missioner and in other places of trust and responsibility. Charles Mills 
married Alta Eyestone and six children were born to them, three dying 
in infancy, those living being Ella, Florence and Harold. The daughter 
Florence Wills married Charles P. Lippe and they live in the city of 
Champaign. Mr. Lippe is a traveling salesman for a wholesale house 
of Decatur, Illinois. They have one son, Raymond W. This grandson of 
Mr. and Mrs. Wills has made a notable record for so young a man. He 
was president of his class when he graduated from the Champaign High 
School in 1910, then did three years' work in the University of Illinois, 
and is now employed in the First National Bank of Champa'ign. In 1906, 
forty years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Wills left their fine farm 
and moved to the village of St. Joseph, where they built a cosy home in 
the north part of the town. They have beautified this place in many ways, 
and Mrs. Wills is never happier than when working with her flowers and 



700 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

has made her lawn in summer time a bank of flowers enjoyed by all who 
pass that way as well as by herself. 

In matters of politics Mr. Wills supports the Eepublican party. He 
and his wife have lived to see most of the changes of importance made in 
Champaign County, and through all the years they have been upheld by 
their intimate love and sympathy and by the consciousness of doing a 
good work for those dependent upon them and for their community. 

SHELBY D. TAYLOR. A large tract of Champaign County's fertile 
acres have been developed and improved by Shelby D. Taylor, who still owns 
one of the valuable farms of the county, though for a number of years he 
has lived retired at Champaign. 

Mr. Taylor came to Champaign County thirty-five years ago. He was 
born in Morgan County, Illinois, May 15, 1851. His parents, both natives 
of Kentucky, were George and Polly E. (Tucker) Taylor. His father was 
born July 20, 1805, and died September 23, 1886, and his mother was born 
August 15, 1807, and died January 22, 1894. Both of them died in Jack- 
sonville, Illinois. George Taylor spent his active years as a farmer. He 
and his wife had ten children: Maxmillie, who was born January 6, 1831, 
and died in February, 1916; Edward A., born January 9, 1833, and died 
in February, 1912; Benjamin H., born October 2, 1835, and died October 
26, 1892; William P., born December 22, 1837, now lives at Springfield, 
Illinois; Casabianca B., born December 2, 1839, is a resident of Jackson- 
ville; Phoebe, born March 13, 1842, wife of George Scott of Norfolk, 
Virginia ; Sarah F., born May 5, 1844, wife of Edward E. Telling of Cham- 
paign County; George Z., born September 20, 1846, died October 21, 1907; 
John H., born February 20, 1849, a resident of Mattoon, Illinois; and 
Shelby D., who was the tenth and youngest of these children. 

Shelby D. Taylor was reared on his father's farm in Morgan County, 
attended the public schools there, and his early experience was farm work. 
After his marriage he continued farming in Sangamon County about six 
years, and in 1882 removed to Champaign County, locating on a farm in 
Homer Township. From Homer Township he removed to Broadland, and 
on his farm of about 300 acres continued actively as a stock raiser and 
general farmer for many years, until he retired into Champaign. 

Mr. Taylor was married March 27, 1882, to Mary L. Anderton. She 
was born in Morgan County, Illinois, daughter of William and Margaret 
(Seymour) Anderton, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of 
Morgan County, Illinois. Her father was a farmer and died in 1865, and 
her mother lived until December 29, 1912. Mrs. Taylor was the oldest 
of three children. The other two are Bird W. of Franklin, Morgan 
County ; and Levina, who died in 1900. 

Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have no children of their own. They reared a 
little girl, Lela May Ladd, from the time she was left motherless at the 
age of eleven years. She is a daughter of James A. Ladd of Urbana. On 
October 2, 1916, this foster daughter married Leslie W. Faulkner of Cham- 
paign, and the young people still live with Mr. and Mrs. Taylor. 

Mr. Taylor is a Eepublican in politics. While living in the country 
he served as township supervisor and as assistant supervisor in the city of 
Champaign. He has attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Eite 
Masonry, and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and the. Modern Woodmen of America. 

JAMES B. EUSSELL. During his long and active career in Champaign 
James B. Eussell made his impress on the financial life of the city and was 
a business man implicitly trusted, and the success he won in material 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 701 

affairs was only a part of the splendid record of his entire life as a man 
and citizen. 

Mr. Russell was born in the city of Philadelphia in October, 1837. 
At the close of a long and active career he passed away at his home in 
Champaign, November 4, 1914, aged seventy-seven. His parents were 
Jonathan and Sarah (Burt) Russell, the former a native of Philadelphia 
and the latter of New Jersey. 

The late Mr. Russell was educated in the grammar schools of Philadel- 
phia until he was sixteen years of age and then for a time attended an 
academy in New Jersey. When about twenty-one years of age he married 
and soon afterward he and his young wife came West to Champaign 
County. He bought land at Tolono and was getting well started and had 
considerable business interests when the war broke out. 

Early in the war Mr. Russell went back to visit friends and relatives 
in New Jersey. While there he witnessed many of his boyhood friends 
joining the army, and he. too, caught the infection and, placing patriot- 
ism above all business and personal considerations, he enlisted in Company 
D of the Twenty-fifth New Jersey Infantry. Mrs. Russell in the mean- 
time had remained in Champaign County. With the assistance of her 
neighbors Mrs. Russell sold off much of the farm stock and implements 
and returned to Philadelphia and New Jersey, remaining until the close 
of the war. 

Mr. Russell served in the army ten months, and came out with the 
rank of sergeant. He and his wife returned to Champaign, and for a 
time he acted as station agent for the Illinois Central Railway Company, 
and then entered the prominent old banking house which later became 
known as Burnham, Trevett & Mattis. Mr. Russell was cashier for that 
bank a period of thirty years. Failing health compelled him to resign, 
and he lived retired for some time before his death.- 

He was a loyal and active Republican, and was called upon to serve 
in the office of city treasurer. He was also keenly interested in the wel- 
fare of his old comrades of the war and at one time served as commander 
of the Grand Army post. He and his wife were members of the Presby- 
terian Church. 

Mr. Russell married Harriett Potter Holmes, a native of New Jersey, 
and daughter of John and Mary (Clark) Holmes. Both her parents died 
in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Her father was a prominent miller and owned 
a large mill in the town where Mrs. Russell spent her girlhood. Mr. and 
Mrs. Russell became the parents of three children : Mary, who died 
March 6, 1867; Jessie, who became the wife of Bert Spalding of Cham- 
paign, and she died September 27, 1904, leaving one son, Russell; and 
Winfred, born September 18, 1873, and died May 10, 1891. 

ROGER FRANK LITTLE. An accomplished member of the Champaign 
bar, Roger Frank Little is a native of Champaign County, acquired his 
legal education in the University of Illinois, and has been in active and 
successful practice for the pat eight years. 

He was born in Crittenden Township October 19, 1885, and is a son 
of Egbert P. and Matilda (Merry) Little. His father has lived in Cham- 
paign County since 1868 and for many years was a farmer, but is now 
living retired in the city of Champaign. Other details of the family history 
will be found on other pages. 

Roger F. Little grew up in the country and was educated in the 
Tolono High School, where he graduated in 1902, after which he had one 
year in the prermratorv school of the University of Illinois. Mr. Little 
spent six years in the literary and law department of the state university, 

2 12 



702 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

graduating A. B. in 1907 and LL. B. in 1909. After his admission to the 
bar he had two years of apprentice experience in the state's attorney's 
office, and in September, 1911, began practice with Judge Boggs. Their 
partnership was continued until Judge Boggs was elevated to the bench 
in the summer of 1914. Since then Mr. Little has practiced with Chancy L. 
Finfrock. 

On March 14, 1911, Mr. Little married Miss Julia Bush, a native of 
Champaign County and a daughter of Jared D. and Ellen (Royal) Bush. 
Her parents now live in the State of Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Little 
have two children: Robert Bush, born May 6, 1915; and Richard Roy, 
born December 16, 1916. 

Besides the attention demanded by his growing law practice, Mr. 
Little has found time to serve the public interests and spent two years on 
the city council. He is a Republican, a Mason and a member of the 

Methodist Episcopal Church. 

\ 

JAMES ROWLAND. More and more as time goes on American people 
appreciate the sacrifices and heroism of that host of men who preserved 
the Union in the dark days of the '60s. It was a wonderful heritage left 
by them "Much more by far than all the crowns that Europe's monarchs 
ever wore, the heritage heroes left a nation free from shore to shore." 
Comparatively few of the old veterans of that struggle still survive, and 
wherever they are found they enjoy increasing respect in proportion to 
their decreasing numbers. 

One of them is Mr. James Rowland, whose country home is in section 
6 of Harwood Township. Mr. Rowland was born in Washington County, 
Ohio, the youngest in a family of seven children born to William and 
Sarah (Chapman) Rowland. His parents' ancestors came from England, 
Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and the Rowland family first had its home 
in the State of Maine and from there came to Ohio. 

James Rowland was only three weeks of age when his mother died 
and has was reared in the home of a Mr. Fowler. He acquired an education 
in the Ohio public schools and at the age of nineteen enlisted to serve his 
country. The date of his enlistment was May, 1864, and he joined Com- 
pany H of the One Hundred and Sixty-first Ohio Infantry. He enlisted 
at Hiramsburg in Noble County, Ohio, and went into the Army of the 
Potomac. He took part in the Lynchburg raid, where the Union troops 
sustained severe losses, and later was in the hard fighting in the Shenan- 
doah Valley, where the gallant Sheridan came to the rescue of the hard- 
pressed Union forces and gained a victory that will always.be celebrated 
in American history. Mr. Rowland remained with the army until the 
close of the struggle and was mustered out at Camp Chase, Columbus, 
Ohio. 

Then, at the age of twenty, he came to Illinois with the Fowler family, 
and his first day in this state will always remain permanent in his memory, 
since it was the day the news of Lincoln's assassination was flashed over 
the nation and plunged its entire people into gloom. 

At the age of twenty-one, in 1866, Mr. Rowland married Miss Elizabeth 
Davis, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Jacob Davis. After their 
marriage they settled on a farm in McLean County, Illinois, living there 
eighteen years, and then came to Champaign County, where they had their 
home for over thirty years. In Champaign County Mr. Rowland paid 
$45 an acre for a farm of 184 acres in Harwood Township. He estab- 
lished a good home here and by wise management and much hard work 
has created those circumstances which he now enjoys and which have 
enabled him to liberally support and provide for his family. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 703 

Five children were born to their marriage, four sons and one daughter. 
The oldest, Orloff, died at the age of six years. The second, Laura B., 
is Mrs. E. A. Wood of Gifford, and they have two children, Atha and 
Edith, the former the wife of Leland Fowler. The third child, Elmer A., 
is a concrete and monument worker at Champaign, and his children are 
Morris, Carl, Lola, Donald and Blanche. T. A. Eowland, the next son, 
is in the barber business at Sidney, Illinois. H. N. Eowland, the youngest 
child, is in the grocery business at Green Bay, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. 
Eowland took much pains to educate their children properly. Elmer and 
H. N. both attended the seminary at Onarga, Illinois, and H. N. graduated 
-from the Wesleyan University at Bloomington. The son Bert was a 
student in the high school at Farmer City, while Laura completed her 
studies in Paxton College. 

Mr. James Rowland has for many years been identified with the 
Grand Army of the Republic and has attended many state and national 
reunions of that great patriotic organization and has souvenirs of those 
occasions in many of the badges which he wore. He has also an interesting 
record of public service besides the part he rendered as a soldier in the 
war. He served as school trustee, road commissioner, was assessor five 
years, and at one time was elected to the office of justice of the peace, but 
declined to fill it on account of other duties. He is a member of the 
Masonic order. In politics he is a Republican and has given his stanch 
allegiance to the party which kept the Union intact in the Civil War and 
has always furnished the country wise and strong government. After 
experiences of over half a century Mr. Rowland is today well preserved 
and active, and it is the ardent wish of his many friends in Champaign 
County that his years may be greatly extended. 

LINDSEY COEBLT. The activities of Lindsey Corbly go far back into 
the pioneer history of Champaign County. He was here over sixty years 
ago and he endured the ordeals of life on the frontier. The years have 
visited his efforts with abundant prosperity. Material possessions have 
been only part of the riches of his experience. He has lived a life of honor, 
peace and industry, and now in his declining years, in his home at Paxton, 
he enjoys the esteem of both old and young. 

Mr. Corbly was born at Garrard's Fort in Greene County, Pennsylvania, 
the third son of William and Rebecca (Stephens) Corbly, also natives of 
Pennsylvania. The records of the Corbly family go far back into pioneer 
days of the Pennsylvania colony. His grandfather, Rev. John Corbly, 
was a pioneer Baptist minister along the frontier line of western Penn- 
sylvania. He was a native of England, but had come to America before 
the Revolution and first settled in western Virginia and afterwards in 
Greene County, Pennsylvania. He was instrumental in building the first 
church at Garrard's Fort. This was a log building and other edifices fol- 
lowed it, while in 1909 the congregation erected their fourth church home, 
a brick edifice dedicated that year and named the John Corbly Memorial 
Church. The name was fittingly bestowed to honor one of the most 
devoted churchmen of the West. The proposition had been long discussed 
as to some appropriate memorial to this good and worthy man, and it was 
finally decided to erect a church which would stand for years and recall his 
good deeds and unselfish labors. 

Rev. John Corbly was three times married. His first wife was a cousin 
of President Tvler. The fate of his second wife will be mentioned presently. 
His third wife was a daughter of Colonel Andrew Lynn, who served with 
that rank in the Revolutionary War. It was his daughter Nancy Ann who 
married Rev. John Corbly, and she was the grandmother of Mr. Lindsey 
Corbly of Champaign County. 



704 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. Corbly in his home at Paxton has a book, entitled "Chronicles of 
Border Warfare," published at Clarksburg, Virginia, in 1831. The pages 
of that work contain the record of a tragic incident in which Rev. John 
Corbly figured. It occurred on Muddy Creek, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1781. 
He and his wife and five children were on the way to church, the wife and 
children preceding, when a band of savages sprang up from the roadside 
and fell upon Mrs. Corbly and the children. The infant in the mother's 
arms was the first victim. The mother was then struck several severe 
blows, and not falling, was shot through the body by a savage who had 
chased her husband. A little son six years old and two girls, two and 
four years of age, were also victims of the savage onslaught. The oldest 
daughter concealed herself in a fallen log and witnessed all that transpired. 
She came out before the Indians had retired, and was caught and slain. 
The only survivors of the massacre were the father and the two younger 
daughters, who by careful nursing were restored. Both of them grew up, 
though one died later as a result of the horrible treatment she had received. 
The other lived, married and reared a large family. 

From this and other facts it is clear that the Corblys took a prominent 
part in the early days of western Pennsylvania. During the Centennial 
year a paper was published devoted to the prominent pioneer families of 
Pennsylvania and the Corblys were mentioned in the record. 

Mr. Lindsey Corbly's parents spent their lives in Pennsylvania and his 
father died in 1875 and his mother in 1855. Mr. Corbly acquired his edu- 
cation chiefly in the school of experience, and since the age of sixteen has 
made his own way in the world. For a time he worked for an uncle who 
had extensive interests as a live stock man in Ohio. While there he was 
paid wages of $7 a month. He soon became known as the "boss cattle 
driver" for his uncle. In those days live stock was never sent by railroad, 
but always driven overland. One of Mr. Corbly's early experiences was 
taking a large herd of stock from Missouri to Philadelphia. Much of the 
country in the Middle West was then wild and infested with lawless people, 
and he not only experienced many difficulties in getting his stock safely over 
the natural difficulties of the road but also had to watch closely against 
highwaymen who sought his money and life. 

Mr. Corbly came to Illinois in 1853. locating in Champaign County, 
but two years later going to Vermilion County as a farmer. In 1863 he 
located in Kerr Township of Champaign County and gradually built up a 
large enterprise as a farmer and stockman. At one time he owned over 
1,700 acres of land and his business as a land holder and stockman made 
his name familiar all over central Illinois. 

Mr. Corbly has always manifested a public spirited interest in local 
affairs. In Kerr Township he served twenty years as township trustee, 
and was one of the members of the first election board at Gibson City and 
also a member of the first grand jury of Ford County. He was on the 
first board of commissioners who divided Ford Countv into townships and 
was a member of the board of supervisors when the University of Illinois 
located at Champaign. Politically he began voting as a Whig and became 
an original Republican at the formation of that party over sixty years ago. 
He has always been stanchly aligned with this party and has been convinced 
that the best and most enduring principles of real democracy are expressed 
through the Republican party. Mr. Corbly has had many notable friend- 
ships with leading statesmen and many prominent Republicans, including 
Joe Cannon, have visited his home. He has always been a great admirer 
of Lincoln and has had personal acquaintance with Generals Sherman, 
Sheridan and Halleck. The spicy sayings of Lincoln have been treasured 
by him and have no doubt had their influence upon his life. One of these 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 705 

maxims which he has often quoted is "never trade horses while crossing the 
river." 

On moving to Kerr Township Mr. Corbly selected land which would be 
especially available for his stock interests. There he reared his family, 
built fine farm buildings, planted shade trees, and many improvements in 
that section stand as a monument to his labors and early enterprise. 

Since December, 1875, Mr. Corbly has been an active member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He entered church work through the influ- 
ence of J. D. Bodkin, now secretary of the State of Kansas, and Eev. James 
Goodspeed. 

On February 24, 1856, Mr. Corbly married for his first wife Sarah 
Wood. She was born and reared in Vermilion County, Illinois, a daughter 
of Henry and Nancy Wood. Six children were born to this union, three 
of whom died in infancy. Those living are Henry L., William Sherman 
and James L. Henry L. Corbly married Julia B. Webber. He is now a 
retired farmer living at Paxton and his children are Mrs. Fay Flagg, 
Lindsey R. and Gladys. Lindsey Ross Corbly lives in Haywood Township 
and married Fay Goodwin of Ford County. Gladys Corbly is a sophomore 
in the Woman's College of Jacksonville, Illinois. 

William Sherman Corbly married Mary A. Yule of Saybrook, McLean 
County, Illinois, and they reside at Paxton. Their children are : George Y. 
and Lynn S. George Y. is a farmer in Button Township of Ford County 
and by his marriage to Jessie Jenkinson has a daughter, Virginia. Lynn S. 
Corbly is a graduate of the University of Illinois, a successful practicing 
attorney in Champaign County, and married Marguerite Clark of Paxton. 

James L. Corbly married Ellen Sheehan of Ludlow. Their children 
are Frank, Ralph, "Jimmie Lee," Owen, Ray, Elmer, Marguerite and 
Pauline (twins), and Irene. Of these Frank married Belle Jackson and 
they reside on a farm adjoining his father. Owen Corbly married Vesta 
Wampler and is also a farmer living near his father. 

The mother of these children and first wife of Mr. Corbly entered into 
rest January 17, 1866, after ten years of married life. She was a good 
woman, a kind neighbor and a loving wife and mother. For his second 
wife Mr. Corbly married Mary A. Scholl. She was born near Saegerstown, 
Pennsylvania, daughter of Dr. Peter Scholl and Elizabeth (Woodring) 
Scholl of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. By Mr. Corbly's second mar- 
riage the children are Fred M., Laura F. and Evelyn. Evelyn is the wife 
of P. A. Kemp of Los Angeles, California, who is a state officer of the 
Court of Honor. They have one son, Lynn, twelve years old. The mother 
of these children passed away March 10, 1907. On June 24, 1909, Mr. 
Corbly married Mrs. Emily Wait. She was born and reared in Vermilion 
County, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Copeland, natives of Ohio. 

The daughter Laura F. married Oscar H. Wylie, a prominent Ford 
County lawyer, at Paxton, Illinois, who has filled numerous important 
public offices and for eight years was prosecuting attorney of Ford County, 
proving to be a fearless, honest public official. For four years he was 
Circuit Court clerk and recorder, at the time being one of the youngest 
officials in the state. Mr. and Mrs. Wylie have the following children: 
Mac, Howard, Evelyn, Emily and Francis. Mac, Howard and . Evelvn are 
all graduates of the Paxton High School, and Mac is a student in flip law 
department of the Northwestern University and also spent three years in 
DePauw University, in which latter institution Howard is, a student, and 
in the fall of 1917 Miss Evelyn proposes to enter. The two younger 
daughters attend the grade schools. 

Ever since Mr. Corbly's eightieth birthday it has been made an occa- 
sion of great family interest, one feature being the presentation of an 



706 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

immense bouquet of roses and chrysanthemums, his favorite flower, a 
blossom for every year, and another being the reading of a birthday poem 
composed by Mrs. Wylie. On the occasion of his eighty-fourth birthday, 
this tribute was so beautifully expressed and tenderly conceived that it 
deserves the prominence of an insertion in this history. In the midst of 
the loving family circle and with other friends present, Mr. Corbly listened 
to the following : 

"Dear old father, with your beaming face, 
Your kindly heart and whole-souled grace, 
Your sterling worth as pioneer 
Facing hardships without fear, 
Always honest and square with the world, 
Your banner for good ever unfurled, 
That's a record worth while, I say, 
For this, your eighty-fourth birthday. 

"Also, dear father, sweet is to me 
The memory of thy charity; 
Thy childlike faith in God and man, 
Surprised at evil where thou didst find; 
Hating deceit with all thy heart 
Because for you was the honest part, 
That's a record worth while, I say, 
For this, your eighty-fourth birthday. 

"Again, dear father, I'll say to thee, 
That when you face eternity, 
I would thy mantle of Christian love 
Of charity like that above, 
Should descend on those you love the best, 
That our lives with good deeds may be blest, 
And that our children may also say 
Our records were good on each birthday." 

The record of Mr. Corbly has been such that no history of Champaign 
County would be complete without its incorporation. He has stood for 
the sound and worthy things of life in every relationship. On every side 
may be found witnesses to his unimpeachable integrity and financial 
responsibility. Some years ago after a fire in Paxton a few scattered 
leaves from the reports of the Dun and Bradstreet Mercantile Credit 
Agency were picked up. These gave commercial ratings of different citi- 
zens with credit attached of so many thousands of dollars to each one, 
and when the name of Mr. Corbly was mentioned the rating was fixed in 
the following significant language: "Good for anything he asks for." 
That his word has always been as good as his bond is not only expressive 
of his business integrity but to all those other qualities which are sum and 
substance of human character. 

Mr. and Mrs. Corbly now occupy a pleasant and comfortable home on 
West State Street in Paxton. There they enjoy the confidence and esteem 
of a host of friends, and in the setting sun of his life Mr. Corbly has his 
good wife by his side, also has the solace of his children and the memory 
of a just and worthy career. It is an unusual retrospect which he enjoys. 
He has seen a great and magnificent country develop before his eyes and 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 707 

with a most creditable share in its making on his own part. He has pros- 
pered, and at the same time has solved the intricate problems of experience, 
has reared and educated his children and has given them his own example 
as a guide to true and loyal citizenship. 

ALEXANDER MAHAFFIE. An honored survivor of the great Civil War 
and a substantial retired farmer of Harwood Township is found in Alexander 
Mahaffie, who was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, in 1835. For many years 
Mr. Mahaffie has been a respected and esteemed resident of Champaign 
County and he has been identified with many of the things which have been 
beneficial to this section. 

The parents of Alexander Mahaffie were William and Elizabeth Mahaffie, 
who moved from Ohio to Indiana when he was eighteen months old. There 
he grew to manhood and obtained a district school education. When the 
Civil War came on he demonstrated the sincerity of his patriotism by enlist- 
ing, at Loganstown, Indiana, and was mustered in at Laporte as a member of 
Company F, One Hundred Fifty-first Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which 
regiment soon marched southward and took station at Nashville, Tennessee. 
During the time the regiment remained at Nashville Mr. Mahaffie, with 
many other soldiers, contracted measles, and as it prevailed in a malignant 
form in his case he was sent to the hospital at Nashville for treatment, but 
when able to return home was found incapacitated for further military 
service. When he enlisted he was a robust young man weighing 145 pounds, 
but when returned to his people he was almost a shadow of his former self 
and weighed but eighty pounds. 

Before entering the army Mr. Mahaffie had visited Champaign County, 
Illinois, and also Ford County, and in the latter had invested in land, pur- 
chasing eighty acres, at $8.50 an acre. After coming back from the army 
he settled with his family on this place, having married in 1861, but later 
moved to Middletown in Logan County, and there his first wife died in 1866, 
and he returned to Indiana. After his second marriage he came back to 
Illinois and for many years has been a resident of Harwood Township, 
Champaign County. 

In 1861 Mr. Mahaffie was married to Catherine Ann Foster, who died 
in 1866. They had two sons, Hiram Ellsworth and William Edgar. The 
former was named for the gallant young officer who was one of the early 
victims of the bitter feeling engendered by the Civil War and whose tragic 
death aroused the whole country and made of him a hero. Hiram Ellsworth 
grew to sturdy manhood, brave and resourceful like the gallant young 
Colonel Ellsworth, but met an accidental death on the railroad on which he 
was employed. William Edgar died at the age of twenty-two years. 
Mr. Mahaffie was married in 1874 to Elizabeth A. Scott, who died in 1905. 
They had one daughter, Sadie, who was born in Ford County, Illinois. She 
was educated in the public schools of Hoopeston and was graduated from 
Greer College in 1896. She returned home to take upon herself the direc- 
tion of the household, as her mother was in failing health, and ever since has 
been a devoted daughter to her father as she was to her mother until the 
former's death. She married Robert M. Hodam, who was born in Ford 
County, Illinois, and is a son of James and Sarah (Harshbarger) Hodam, 
natives of Virginia, who came early to Illinois. Six children have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Hodam : Lowell, Florence, Harold, Gladys, Claud and 
Helen, all of whom are being afforded the best of educational advantages. 
The family occupies a beautiful home, the comfortable residence being sur- 
rounded by fine old trees that were set out many years ago by Mr. Burbank. 

Robert M. Hodam was educated in the public schools and educational 
institutions at Normal and Valparaiso. He is a man of large business inter- 
ests, being manager of the Ludlow Elevator Company for seven years and 



708 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

an experienced man in the grain trade. He is prominent also in public 
matters, has served as treasurer of Harwood Township and is also a member 
of the school board. Mr. and Mrs. Hodam are active members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church and for the last three years Mr. Hodam has served 
as superintendent of the Sunday school. He is identified fraternally with 
the Masons and the Knights of Pythias. Mrs. Hodam is an enthusiastic 
worker in the Woman's Temperance Union ranks, an earnest and helpful 
member. She rejoices that a brighter day seems approaching because of the 
untiring labor of this great body of unselfish women, who have succeeded in 
encircling the world with the white ribbon of temperance. Mr. Mahaffie 
and his first wife were members of the Presbyterian Church, and he and his 
second wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He worships 
with the Methodists at present. 

HON. THOMAS J. ROTH. Since 1906 the legal profession of Champaign 
County has been capably and honorably represented at Urbana by Hon. 
Thomas J. Roth, former judge of the County Court and a legist of the 
county for forty-three years. For the greater part of this period Judge 
Roth was located at Rantoul, but came to Urbana to assume the duties of 
his judicial office, and upon the expiration of his term remained at the 
county seat in the enjoyment of a constantly increasing practice. 

Hon. Thomas J. Roth was born at Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, 
December 3, 1846. and is a son of Thomas B. and Esther (Ghrist) Roth. 
His paternal grandfather was a native of Holland who immigrated to the 
United States as a young man and located with his wife in Lancaster 
County, Pennsylvania. Thomas B. Roth, however, was born in Shamokin, 
Pennsylvania. Mr. Roth's mother's maternal grandfather, Charles R. 
Morris, was born in Maryland and his wife in New Jersey, and Mr. Roth's 
maternal grandparents, Jonathan and Mary (Morris) Ghrist, were both 
natives of Maryland, from which it will be seen that on the maternal 
side Mr. Roth's ancestry is distinctively American for several generations. 
As a young man Thomas B. Roth removed to Pickaway County, Ohio, 
where he lived for a number of years, but in 1856 removed to a farm 
near Oakland, Coles County, Illinois, making the trip in covered wagons 
which carried the household goods as well as members of the family, while 
Mr. and Mrs. Roth, with their youngest daughter, followed with a horse 
and buggy. From there the family moved to the Joseph Bradbury farm 
in Edgar County, Illinois, remaining there about twelve years. 

Thomas J. Roth made his home with his parents until he was twenty- 
two years of age, and during this time did much to assist his father in 
the cultivation of the home farm. In the meantime he was receiving his 
education in the public schools of Edgar County, where he attended the 
Paris High School, and finally adopted the profession of teaching, a voca- 
tion which he followed for four years. While employed as an instructor 
he had become interested in the law and had spent some of his spare 
time in desultory reading in legal literature, but it was not iintil 1872 
that he took up the matter seriously, in that year entering the office of 
Hon. J. A. Eads of Paris, Illinois, where he studied under this able 
preceptor for two years. He was admitted to the bar at Mo.unt Vernon, 
Illinois, in June, 1874, and on July 13th of the same year located for 
practice at Rantoul, Champaign County. Probably Judge Roth had the 
usual difficulty experienced by the young lawyer in getting a foothold upon 
the ladder of success, but once his start was made his advance was rapid, 
and during the thirty-two years of his residence at Rantoul he arose to a 
position where he was recognized as one of the ablest and most eminent 
members of his profession in the county. In 1906 he was selected for 




HARRY HERRICK 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY , 709 

judicial honors when elected judge of the County Court of Champaign 
County, which necessitated his changing his residence to Urbana. At the 
expiration of four years of fine and dignified service on the bench he 
resumed his private practice, but remained at Urbana, where he has since 
represented some of the largest and most important interests of the county 
seat. 

On June 24, 1875, Judge Eoth was united in marriage with Miss 
Anna M. Eubank, who was born in Covington, Kentucky, April 14, 1848, 
and died June 6, 1913, and was laid to rest in Maplewood Cemetery, Ran- 
toul, Illinois. Two sons were born to this union, namely : Sidney Roscoe, 
who died March 21, 1917; and Harold Denio, a successful lawyer of Cham- 
paign County, who is now serving as assistant state's attorney under 
Louis A. Busch. Mrs. Roth was very popular in the social and religious 
life of Rantoul and for twelve years served in the capacity of member of 
the school board there, succeeding her husband in that position. She was 
equally popular at Urbana, although not so actively engaged in affairs. 
Judge Roth is a Democrat. He has numerous business connections, one 
of which is with the Rantoul Water, Light and Power Company, of which 
he is president. Fraternally he is identified with the Rantoul Lodge of 
Modern Woodmen of America, and he and Mrs. Roth were members of the 
First Congregational Church of Rantoul. 

HARRY HERRICK. The invention of the automobile not only brought 
a new element into business and social life, but in its subsequent develop- 
ment and improvement opened up other industries that have now become 
as essential to progress as the vehicle itself. The business of dealing in 
'automobile supplies engages the attention of many wide awake business 
men all over the country. Champaign, with its wealth, culture, business 
enterprise and close contiguity to a rich agricultural section has, perhaps, 
a larger purchasing class interested in automobiles than many cities of 
equal size, and all these car owners are, to some extent, dependent on the 
local dealers in supplies. One of these business men is Harry Herrick, 
who is doing a large trade in this line and is particularly well qualified 
because of his practical knowledge of the construction and operation of 
all the leading types of cars. 

Harry Herrick was born in the city of Chicago, September 9, 1877, and 
is a son of Dwight C. and Belle (Warner) Herrick, the former of whom 
was born at Baldwinsville, New York, and the latter a native of Chicago, 
Illinois. The Warner family located in Chicago early and the maternal 
grandmother of Harry Herrick was a passenger on the first passenger train 
on what is now the Chicago & Northwestern Railway that went out of 
Chicago. There were five children born to Dwight C. Herrick and wife 
in the old home in Oak Park, Chicago, namely : Harry ; a son who died 
in infancy; Florence, who is the wife of H. K. Hoblitt, who is cashier of 
the State National Bank at Bloomington ; and Burton S. and Warner, 
both of whom are residents of Bloomington. Until 1902 the father was 
in a clothing business in Chicago and then moved to Bloomington and 
continued in the same line there. 

Harry Herrick attended the public schools in Oak Park and was 
graduated from the high school in 1897. He had determined on a bus- 
iness career and began by becoming a stock boy in a house furnishing 
company in Chicago, his fidelity and industry being rewarded by promotion, 
and for two years he was a traveling salesman for this concern. For some 
time after that he was connected with his father's business and then once 
more went on the road, this time for a clothing house and with a wide 
territory, his business travels taking him over Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. 



710 - HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. Herrick continued in that line until 1909, in which year he came 
to Champaign and here embarked in the automobile business. Mr. Herrick 
was one of the pioneers in several business ventures in connection with 
rapid transportation, starting the first completely equipped garage at 
Champaign and also the first taxicab line. In December, 1909, he drove 
the first auto truck that ever came into central Illinois, the route being 
from Pontiac, Michigan, to Champaign. At present he is devoting his 
entire attention to the automobile supply business, having branch houses 
both at the Chanute Aviation Field, Eantoul, Illinois, and at Bloomington, 
Illinois. He is widely known in automobile circles and is president of the 
Champaign Automobile Club. 

On April 4, 1903, Mr. Herrick was united in marriage with Miss 
Katheryn Walls, who is a member of an old Champaign family. She is 
a daughter of the late W. W. Walls, for many years a substantial business 
man here. Mr. and Mrs. Herrick have four children : Harriet, Robert W., 
Arthur James and Richard. Politically Mr. Herrick is a Republican, but 
he takes a more active part in business affairs than in politics, never failing, 
however, to give his support and lend his influence to every matter of good 
government. He is greatly interested in the subject of good roads. 
Fraternally he is an Elk, and he and wife belong to the Presbyterian 
Church. 

CHANCY L. FINFROCK is one of the younger members of the Champaign 
bar and for the past three years has been associated in practice with 
Roger F. Little. 

Mr. Finfrock was born in Urbana, May 19, 1892, a son of John H. 
and Jordena (Johnson) Finfrock. His father was born in Pennsylvania 
and his mother in Ohio. John H. Finfrock came to Champaign County 
in 1875. Locating at Urbana, he identified himself with his regular busi- 
ness as a flour miller and was one of the substantial citizens of that district 
until his death in July, 1896. The mother is still living in Urbana. 
Chancy L. is .the only survivor of his parents' four children, the other 
three having died in infancy. 

He was graduated from the Urbana High School in 1910 and then 
entered the University of Illinois, where he completed the law course and 
received his LL. B. degree in 1914. . In September, 1914, Mr. Finfrock 
became associated with Mr. Little, and they have one of the well appointed 
law offices of Urbana, located at 109% Main Street. 

Mr. Finfrock is a Republican and a member of the Masonic order. 
He married, June 29, 1916, Miss Grace Dellenbach of Champaign. 

GEORGE SCHOON, whose fine farm establishment is in section 32 of Kerr 
Township, has been a resident of Champaign County almost continuously 
since he was four years of age. He is a native of Germany, and inherits 
many of the substantial qualities which have made that people famous under 
every clime of the world. 

Mr. Schoon's parents were Christian and Mary Schoon, and he was one 
of their two children, John and George. The parents, seeking better oppor- 
tunities for themselves and for their children, immigrated to America when 
George was four years of age. Coming to Champaign County, they located 
near Penfield, and both the boys attended school here and grew up to indus- 
trious manhood. 

Mr. George Schoon married Miss Mattie Booher. She was born at Blue 
Grass in Vermilion County, Illinois, a daughter of Benjamin and Frances 
(Harper) Booher. Her parents were both born at Darlington, Indiana, and 
settled near Sugar Grove in Champaign County on March 5, 1865. There 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 711 

were thirteen children in the Booher family, Mrs. Schoon being about sixth 
or seventh in order of birth. With her brothers and sisters she secured her 
education in the Armstrong school. 

Mr. and Mrs. Schoon were married Christmas Day, December 25, 1902. 
Mr. Booher was a kind and indulgent father, and it was one of his expressed 
wishes that all his daughters should marry from his home. Thus the mar- 
riage of Mr. and Mrs. Schoon was made a matter of family celebration, and 
their wedding was witnessed by many relatives and friends, and altogether 
it was a scene of pleasure and good wishes which is still a pleasant memory 
to all participants. 

For the first year after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schoon worked on 
his father's farm until the father retired to Gifford. The young couple then 
continued on the Schoon homestead for a time, but for the past thirteen 
years Mr. Schoon has been the farm manager for Mr. A. A. Arms near 
Penfield. He has under his supervision 300 acres of land, and Mr. Schoon 
is widely recognized as one of the most productive farmers of Champaign 
County. He has found Mr. Arms a prince of a landlord, kind and consid- 
erate of the welfare of Mr. and Mrs. Schoon, and their associations have 
been both profitable and pleasant, each party endeavoring to do the best for 
the other and working for mutual interests and sharing the responsibilities 
of the farm. 

Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Schoon, two sons and two 
daughters, named Lena Alberta, Mary Frances, George Harold and Virgil 
Oakley. These are four bright, energetic children, all of them students in 
the Penfield school. Mr. and Mrs. Schoon have also given their daughters 
culture in music, especially the piano, and the girls have eagerly accepted 
this opportunity and are progressive and hard working students and show 
signal ability in their musical culture. 

Besides general farming Mr. Schoon has been very successful as a stock 
raiser, particularly in the raising of horses, which seem to thrive under his 
management. His barns have sheltered a number of Percheron horses. He 
and his wife are people who believe in enjoying life as they go along, and 
besides their teams of horses they own a fine Studebaker car. Mr. Schoon 
believes in operating an automobile on the sane and safe plan. From time 
to time he and his family have enjoyed some very pleasant trips. Thus they 
have brought the joys of life into their country home, and the home is one 
which the children will hardly desire to leave for the attractions of the 
city. 

On February 6, 1916, Mrs. Schoon's mother died very suddenly, and her 
death was a great shock to the family. Mr. and Mrs. Schoon are active 
members of the United Brethren Church at Penfield and their children are 
being reared in the same faith and are attentive members of the Sunday 
school. Fraternally Mr. Schoon is affiliated with the Woodmen of the 
World and the Knights of Pythias, and Mrs. Schoon is a member of the 
Eoyal Neighbors. These social orders have proved valuable factors in their 
lives and means of broadening life's activities. Mr. and Mrs. Schoon are 
among the most representative families of Champaign County, and their 
life's work has brought them many rich rewards. Mr. Schoon is a true 
American citizen, loyal to the land of his adoption, and has been fortunate 
in having his lot cast with Champaign County and in the broad opportunities 
that have come to him through a capable and efficient wife. Mr. and 
Mrs. Schoon may be found at their pleasant home northwest of Penfield, 
where they enjoy the confidence and esteem of their neighbors and have a 
most pleasing retrospect upon days well spent and duties well performed. 
In politics Mr. Schoon gives his support to the Eepublican party, but votes 
for principles rather than according to the strict dictates of partisanship. 



712 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

CHRISTIAN SCHOON was for many years enrolled among the active and 
vigorous farmers of Champaign County, but from the fruits of his industry 
long continued he is now enabled to enjoy a life of comfortable retirement 
in his home in the Village of Gifford. 

Mr. Schoon, like many other of the most capable men who have tilled 
and cultivated the soil of Champaign County, is of German origin. He was 
born at the Town of Reepshold in the Province of Hanover, a son of George 
and Sophia (Burns) Schoon. He was the oldest of three children, the other 
fwo being John and Mattie. Christian Schoon grew up and received his 
education in Germany and he served three years in the German army in the 
Seventy-eighth Eegiment of Infantry, being a corporal. He was in the army 
while Emperor William, the first, was on the Prussian throne and while 
Prince Bismarck was counselor to the German Empire. This Emperor 
William was grandfather of the present Kaiser. Mr. Schoon obtained an 
honorable discharge from the army, and though he rendered faithful and 
loyal service to the land of his birth, since coming to America he has been 
equally loyal to the flag of his adopted land. 

In 1875 Mr. Schoon married in Germany Miss Mary Monck. She was 
a daughter of George and Katrina (Ennen) Monck. Seven years after their 
marriage they determined to better their fortune by coming to America. 
They took passage on the ship Oder, which on a later voyage was lost at sea. 
After landing at New York they came direct to Champaign County and for 
twenty-one years they farmed for that prince of landlords, Azro Arms, on 
one of Mr. Arms' fine places near Penfield. Mr. Schoon is one of the men 
who made a success as a farm tenant, and was able eventually to retire with 
an ample competence for his needs. During all those twenty-one years 
Mr. Arms never asked him for a contract, feeling assured that he was dealing 
with an honest man. They depended upon each other's word and there was 
never a time when a misunderstanding arose which could not be quietly set- 
tled. Their relationship indicates how two congenial and honest men may 
get along in business affairs with mutual satisfaction and esteem. 

Mr. and Mrs. Schoon are the parents of two children, George and John. 
Both were well educated in Champaign County, and besides what .they 
learned in books they acquired habits of industry and principles of moral 
integrity from their parents. George is a successful farmer living on the 
A. A. Arms place near Penfield, and he married Miss Mattie Booher. They 
have four children, named Alberta, Mary, George and Virgil. John Schoon, 
who is a mechanic living at Gifford, married Elizabeth Johnson, and they 
have two children, Christian and Flossie. 

When Mr. Christian Schoon came to America he possessed very little 
money. He was unable to speak a word of the English language, and it was 
fortunate indeed that his industry and good common sense early attracted 
the attention of Mr. Arms and brought about that long and continuous 
employment which has been mentioned. Mr. Schoon has always enjoyed 
the respect and confidence of his neighbors and friends, and is now serving 
his fifth consecutive term as a member of the school board and is clerk of 
the board. He believes in securing the best instruction for children, and has 
been instrumental in bringing the Gifford High School to its present high 
state of efficiency. His family are all active members and supporters of the 
German Lutheran Church at Gifford. Wherever the public has required his 
services Mr. Schoon has performed them with conscientious ability. At one 
time he served on the jury during Judge Cunningham's administration, and 
has always been a great admirer of that noble man. 

On coming to America Mr. Schoon made a close study of political prob- 
lems in this country, and determined to give his support to the Eepublican 
party and has always followed the principles he thus early acquired, though 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 713 

he supported Mr. Eoosevelt during the Progressive movement. Mr. Schoon 
gives much credit to his capable wife as a sharer in their mutual joys and 
sorrows and the accomplishments which now enable them to live without 
care and anxiety in their home at Gifford. 

JOSEPH GORDON. Champaign County lost one of its most industrious 
and capable citizens in the death of Joseph Gordon at his fine country home 
in section 18 of Compromise Township on January 10, 1915. His home 
had been in Champaign County over forty years and his residence was a 
continuous record of well directed energy, wholesome influence in the com- 
munity, of prosperity as a business man and of complete devotion to his 
family and home. 

He was born in County Wexford, Ireland, a son of John and Mary 
(Whalen) Gordon. When he was twelve years of age the family came to 
America. There were five sons and three daughters, Joseph being the oldest. 
An education partly in the schools of Ireland and partly in the United 
States equipped Joseph Gordon for the serious battles of life. 

On February 3, 1874, he married Miss Ellen McQuaid. Mrs. Gordon, 
who is still living at the old homestead, surrounded by her sturdy sons and 
capable daughters, was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, daughter of Thomas 
and Catherine (Milan) McQuaid. Her parents were also natives of Ireland. 
She was ten months old when they came to Champaign County, the 
McQuaids being among the pioneers of Rantoul, where Mrs. Gordon was 
educated in the public schools. She had one brother, Thomas. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Gordon started out to make a home 
for themselves and provisions for their family. Five miles from Eantoul 
Mr. Gordon bought eighty acres of land at $40 an acre. He possessed all 
the qualifications which the successful farmer requires. He and his wife 
had youth, energy, industry, and they were willing to sacrifice many con- 
veniences in order to provide for the future. After five years on their first 
farm they moved to Compromise Township, and subsequently bought 160 
acres three miles southeast of Gifford, which in course of time was developed 
into their permanent home. When they went there the land had very few 
improvements. There was a small three-room house but no fruit or shade 
trees. Mr. Gordon planted with his own hands many fruit trees and shade 
trees, and these now give the home one of its most attractive aspects. 

Fourteen children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon. Their names in 
order of birth are : Charles N., Thomas F., Joseph E., Catherine G., Mary 
E., Anna E., Agnes T., William B., Margaret A., John R., Loretta F. and 
three others, Emily, James and John, who died in infancy. Mr. and 
Mrs. Gordon early realized their responsibilities as parents and took strict 
pains to see that their children would have the best of educational advan- 
tages. Besides keeping them in the local schools, they gave them the advan- 
tages of the high schools at Gifford and Penfield. Charles completed his 
education in the Brothers School at Peru, Illinois, Anna was a student in 
St. Joseph's Academy at Bloomington, and Mary attended the Sisters School 
at Champaign. Charles N. Gordon, who lives at Penfield, is a merchant, 
proprietor of a large general store, married Ellen T. Collins, and for his 
second wife Ellen Dwyer. Their children are Frances and Eugene. Thomas 
F. Gordon, a farmer in Compromise Township, married Bessie O'Connor. 
Joseph E. Gordon married Catherine Nolan, and their children are Helen, 
Joseph, Paul, Mary, Emily, Rita and Charles. Catherine G. Gordon is the 
wife of Edward Nolan, and they live in Compromise Township. Their 
children are Mary A., Ruth and Josephine. Mary E. Gordon married John 
Nolan, a farmer. The other children are still at home. William B. is active 
manager of the farm, with the assistance of his brother John. Their well 



714 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

tilled fields indicate the care bestowed upon them through many years and 
also the industry of these two brothers. 

Mr. Gordon during his long residence in Champaign County became 
known not only as a very capable farmer but as a kind neighbor, a loving 
husband and a dutiful father. He was devoted to the welfare of the Catholic 
Church at Penfiekl and he and John Fleming carried the first petition to 
solicit funds for the building of the present church. In politics Mr. Gordon 
was an active Democrat. His sons have filled different positions of public, 
trust, William B. having been trustee of the school board of Compromise 
Township, while Joseph E. has been supervisor and Thomas is now filling 
the office of township treasurer. Thus in many ways the name of the Gordon 
family has been identified with the substantial interests of Champaign 
County. 

That Mr. Joseph Gordon was a farmer and business man of unusual 
ability and judgment is evidenced in the fact that at the time of his death 
his estate comprised 1,120 acres of the fertile lands of Champaign County. 

W. M. EALEY, who has followed a varied and active career as a teacher, 
minister of the Gospel and as an earnest, hard-workijng citizen in what- 
ever capacity life has called him, has for many years been a resident of 
Champaign County. 

He was born near Brazil in Clay County, Indiana, May 18, 1853, a 
son of William and Wealthy (Hicks) Ealey, his father a native of Ken- 
tucky and his mother of Indiana. His mother was born August 30, 1834, 
and is still living at Urbana at the age of eighty-three. William Ealey 
went into the Union army from Indiana as a member of Company F of 
the One Hundred and Forty-ninth Indiana Infantry. After nine months 
he was discharged from duty on account of illness. He was a farmer by 
occupation, and in April, 1891, removed to Champaign County, Illinois, 
where his death occurred in August, 1895. Of his five children W. M. 
Ealey is the oldest. Clara J. is the wife of John Gibbens of Clay County, 
Indiana; Sarah A. is the wife of John Barnett of Saskatchewan, Canada; 
George, a resident of Clay County, Indiana; and Emma, wife of Albert 
Muncie of Brazil, Indiana. 

W. M. Ealey grew up in Indiana, attended country schools and at the 
age of sixteen qualified as a teacher. He was actively engaged in the 
work of this profession for twenty years. He finally entered the ministry 
of the Christian Church and in 1889 removed to Urbana, from which 
point he carried on his work in the Gospel for a number of years until he 
retired about eight years ago. However, he has continued to preach 
funeral sermons and has officiated at more funerals than possibly any 
minister of any other denomination in this section of Illinois. In Jan- 
uary, 1890, Mr. Ealey built the home in Urbana where he still resides, 
a two-story stucco residence. 

He was married January 1, 1875, to Louisa Presnell, a native of Clay 
County, Indiana. They were married for over twenty-one years, and at 
her death on January 25, 1896, she left eight children: Minnie, who 
lives at Saline City, Indiana; Cora, wife of Angus McLean of Ohio; 
Homer, who for four years and four months was in the United States 
navy and is now living in Champaign ; Elmer, foreman of a planing mill 
at Urbana; Edgar of Modesta, California; Effie, wife of George F. Hensel 
of Denver, Colorado; Grace, wife of Charles Tillotson of Urbana; and 
Miss Burdelle, an art teacher in the public schools of Urbana. On Decem- 
ber 25, 1901, Rev. Mr. Ealey married Susanna H. Harris of Bellefontaine, 
Ohio, a daughter of Rev. J. G. Harris, a minister of the English 
Lutheran Church and one of the best educated men in the State of Ohio 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 715 

in his day. Eev. Mr. Harris was a linguist, being the master of eight 
languages and preached in both English and German. He was of English 
descent. 

Mr. Ealey is now serving his second term as township assessor. Polit- 
ically he is a Republican and has been a member of the Masonic order for 
thirty-nine years and also belongs to the Eastern Star, the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and Rebekahs and the Court of Honor. He is a 
faithful member of the Christian Church. 

PHINEAS LAWRENCE WINDSOR, librarian of the University of Illinois, 
is one of the ablest men of his profession in the state. He is a native 
of Illinois, and had a wide experience in library work both in the East and 
West before he entered upon his present duties. 

He was assistant in the New York State Library in 1899, and from 
1900 to 1903 was in the copyright office in the Library of Congress. 
From 1904 to 1909 Mr. Windsor held the post of librarian to the Uni- 
versity of Texas at Austin. He then accepted his present duties as librarian 
and director of the Library School of the University of Illinois. 

In 1913 he was president of the Illinois Library Association, is a life 
member of the American Library Association and a member of its council 
from 1909 to 1913, and is a member of the Bibliographical Society of 
America. In 1904 he edited the Handbook of Texas Libraries and has been 
a frequent contributor to library publications. 

Mr. Windsor was born at Chenoa in McLean County, Illinois, Feb- 
ruary 21, 1871, a son of Rev. John Alexander and Amy (Arnold) Windsor. 
He acquired a liberal education, graduating Ph. B. from Northwestern 
University at Evanston in 1895, during 1897-99 was a student in the 
New York State Library School at Albany, and during 1899-1900 was a 
student in the Albany Law School and a member of the staff of the New 
York State Library. 

Mr. Windsor married, January 1, 1902, Miss Margaret Fursman Boyn- 
ton of Lockport, New York. He is a member of the Delta Tau Delta 
College Fraternity, the Methodist Church and the University Club of 
Urbana. 

L. H. BLUE. Hardly a more attractive rural home can be found in the 
entire scope of Champaign County than that of Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Blue, 
situated on Rural Route No. 21 out of Rantoul and section 8, some seven 
miles from that city. 

This home has been the product of Mr. and Mrs. Blue's united endeavors 
and industry since they married, and it is with a pardonable degree of 
pride that they enjoy its comforts and satisfactions. Mr. Blue was born 
near Rantoul and is a son of John H. and Lena (Satthoff) Blue, energetic 
and worthy German people who came to this country in early life. Mr. Blue 
was educated in the North View and Thresher district schools. 

His happy marriage occurred in 1904, when Miss Bertha J. Cook became 
his wife. She was born in Champaign County, a daughter of Lyona B. and 
Mary E. (Parker) Cook. She was educated in the Amity school. 

Mr. and Mrs. Blue after their marriage became renters on the old 
Hutchinson estate four and a half miles west of Thomasboro. A year later 
they removed to Ford County, and there farmed eighty acres of rented land 
for six years. Throughout they were possessed of the ambition to acquire a 
home of their own, and called to their aid the utmost thrift of their German 
stock and their native habits of economy. With money Mrs. Blue inherited 
from her father's estate and money saved by their several years as renters 
they bought eighty acres seven and a half miles northwest of Rantoul. 



716 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Their place is on the corner of cross roads and their home is beautifully 
situated on an eminence of land from which the ground slopes away in all 
directions. Their home in summer time is almost kept from view by a 
magnificent grove of maple, hackberry, butternut, walnut and evergreen 
trees. They have carefully studied and worked out a fine landscape gar- 
dening which would do credit to an artist in that field. 

In this home Mr. and Mrs. Blue have enjoyed the happy companionship 
of their two children. Eldon Louis was born in 1907 and Glen Emerson 
was born in 1912. The family are active members of the German Lutheran 
Evangelical Church. Politically Mr. Blue is a Republican, and has mani- 
fested his public spirit whenever the occasion required his services. He is a 
member of the local school board and serving as clerk, and is also on his two 
year term as a road commissioner. Mr. Blue has been treasurer of the North 
Prospect Telephone Company six years, and is a director of the Farmers 
Mutual Insurance Company of Dix Township in Ford County. This com- 
pany is one of the large ones in central Illinois, and has $2,000,000 of insur- 
ance in force. 

HON. ROY C. FREEMAN. The science of justice and statutory law 
both require keen perceptions, well trained minds and intellects beyond 
the ordinary, and each is a distinct branch of what is technically termed 
"law." The simple fact that an individual is admitted to the bar is of 
itself prima facie evidence of the possession of superior intellectual endow- 
ments, although some who pose as legists are unprincipled and others 
incompetent as such, in competition with the profession generally ; but when 
lawyers are elected for office, especially the executive and judicial, those of 
the best reputation for honorable conduct and legal ability are generally 
given the preference. The career of Judge Roy C. Freeman, county judge 
of Champaign County, has been such as to demonstrate that he deserves 
membership in the latter class, and that he has fairly earned the honor 
which his position indicates and the confidence of the people of the county. 

Roy C. Freeman is a native of Champaign County, having been born in 
Homer Township, on the farm of his father, July 13, 1880, a son of 
John T. and Jennie B. (Silkey) Freeman. His father has passed his 
entire life in Champaign County, where he has won his way to the owner- 
ship of a handsome property and a position among the leading agricul- 
turists and stock raisers of this section, his home still being in Homer 
Township. In his native county he has gained the reputation of being 
a man of ability and resource, who is straightforward in living up to his 
business engagements and in discharging his civic responsibilities. Mrs. 
Freeman, who also survives, is a native of Tuscarawas County, Ohio. 
Roy C. is their only child. 

Roy C. Freeman was brought up on his father's farm, but his early 
tendencies were shown to lie in the direction of a career other than that 
of an agricultural life, and he was given the necessary encouragement by 
his parents. His early education was acquired in the country schoolr 
following which he enrolled as a student at the high school at Homer, 
which he attended for three years, and from which he was graduated in 
1898. He then entered the literary department of the University of Illi- 
nois, but in the fall of 1899 went to the University of Michigan, as a-- 
special student, taking literary work. His law work was started in the 
fall of 1900, and in June, 1903, he was graduated with his degree from 
the University of Michigan, and soon thereafter admitted to the bar of 
that state. Returning to Illinois, in October, 1903, he was admitted 
to the Illinois bar, and in December opened an office for the practice of 
his profession. The young legist was not long in attracting a good 







PATEICK RICHAKDS 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 717 

clientele of representative people in the general practice of his calling, 
and after about ten years of successful professional business his name began, 
to be mentioned as a judicial possibility. Finally he was persuaded to allow 
his name to be used in this connection, and in November, 1914, he was 
the successful candidate for the office of county judge. He took office in 
December of the same year and has . remained in the same capacity to 
the present time. His record has been in harmony with that which he 
established as a lawyer, and in his office he has administered the law with 
the broadest intelligence and a keen regard for equity. The judge on the 
bench fails more frequently, perhaps, from a deficiency in that broad- 
mindedness which not only comprehends the details of a situation quickly 
and that insures a complete self-control under the most exasperating con- 
ditions than from any other cause; and the judge who makes a success 
in the discharge of his multitudinous delicate duties, whose rulings are 
seldom reversed, and before whom counsel and litigant come with an 
unshakable confidence, must possess that broad-mindedness referred to in 
in addition to well-rounded character, finely balanced mind and splendid 
intellectual attainments. From Judge Freeman's past record and the con- 
fidence in which he is universally held it is assumed that he is just such a 
jurist. 

Judge Freeman was married August 16, 1'905, to Miss Lillian A. Bur- 
dick, who was born in Champaign County, Illinois, and to this union 
there have been born three children: Beulah May, who died in 1910; 
and Gladys Irene and Hazel Bernice. Judge Freeman is a Eepublican. 
He has been interested in the success of his party and for some years has 
been active in politics. For about six years prior to his election to the 
county judgeship he served in the capacity of assistant state's attorney. 
As a fraternalist he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and to the Blue 
Lodge and Council of the Masons, being past thrice illustrious master of the 
latter. 

CHESTER W. RICHARDS. Members of the Richards family have been 
active figures in business affairs in Champaign County for over half a 
century. The name is especially identified with the First National Bank of 
Urbana, of which the late Patrick Richards was for many years president 
and of which his son, Chester W. Richards, is now vice-president. Chester 
W. Richards is a lawyer by profession, and has an extensive general practice 
in all the courts of this county. 

The late Patrick Richards was born at Quebec, Canada, December 17, 
1835, but soon after his birth his parents removed to Utica, New York. 
He was reared in that city, was educated in the public schools, and gained 
his first opening in the business world as a drug clerk. He was with a 
very large drug establishment at Utica and remained there several years. 
He not only performed the routine duties assigned him, but made his 
position an opportunity, for thorough study and mastery of the details of 
the business. On reaching his majority he removed to New York City, and 
had further experience as a prescription clerk. His thrift also enabled 
him to save a few hundred dollars, and with this comparatively small 
capital he removed to Champaign County in 1862. His first location was 
at Tolono. Soon afterwards he opened a small stock of drugs and sundries 
in that village and employed all the resources of his skill and recent experi- 
ence to build up a business. His choice of location was fortunate, since 
the surrounding country was comparatively new and there was a ready 
demand for his stock of merchandise. His store soon came to be recognized 
as the leading one of its kind over a large tract of country. His trade 
grew and at one time his stock inventoried at something more than $17,000. 

2 is 



718 HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

He was also an active citizen and for several terms served as supervisor of 
his township. 

In 1882 Patrick Eichards sold out his drug business at Tolono with the 
intention of retiring. Eetired life soon proved tedious, and removing from 
the village of Tolono to Urbana he acquired stock in and also some share in 
the management of the First National Bank, which was then, however, a 
private banking institution. With the incorporation of the First National 
Bank he became its president, and he held that position until his death on 
January 1, 1899. At his death the bank had a capital stock of $100,000, 
and was secure in its position as one of the leading financial concerns of 
Champaign County. 

Patrick Eichards was married May 22, 1865, to Amelia I. Morgan, 
daughter of W. E. Morgan and a native of Fleming County, Kentucky. 
They became the parents of three children : Gertrude, Clarence M., and 
Chester W. 

Chester W. Eichards was born at Urbana, July 28, 1883, 'about a year 
after his parents removed to that city. He was educated in the Urbana 
public schools, graduating from high school in the spring of 1902. Not 
long afterwards he took up the study of law in the University of Illinois, 
and received his degree LL. B. in 1906. Mr. Eichards has been actively 
engaged in practice at Urbana since 1907. His law offices are in the 
First National Bank Building. From 1908 to 1911 he was corporation 
counsel of the city and since 1911 has been master in chancery of the 
Circuit Court of the county. Besides the duties of this position, the 
demands made upon his professional time and energy, and his official 
relations with the First National Bank, Mr. Eichards was further honored 
and given further responsibilities when on April 17, 1917, he was elected 
mayor of Urbana. 

He has always taken an active part in Eepublican party affairs, and is 
a member of the First Baptist Church, superintendent of its Sunday school, 
is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Knights of Pythias and 
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Eichards married Miss 
Angie Casey of Chicago, daughter of Charles E. Casey, a broker of that 
city. They have two children : Chester William, Jr., and Elizabeth Ann. 

DANIEL E. MCHAHRT. Among the numerous families whose activities of 
life have contributed toward the upbuilding of Champaign County we are 
pleased to mention the name of McHarry. 

William McHarry was a son of Daniel and Elizabeth McHarry, born in 
Strenraer, Scotland, in 1856. Daniel McHarry had preceded his family to 
America, became a soldier in the Civil War, and lost his life in the service. 
His family followed him to America when William was fifteen years of age. 
They came first to Mackinaw, Michigan, later moved to Chicago, and from 
there to Champaign County, where they engaged in farming. 

William McHarry wedded Miss Maggie Tweedy, a native of the same 
place in Scotland. The two families, Tweedy and McHarry, immigrated to 
America together when Maggie was ten years of age. After the marriage 
of Mr. and Mrs. William McHarry they began their wedded life two miles 
north of Eantoul, settling on prairie land. For a number of years they 
rented the land they farmed, and there this sturdy young Scotch couple 
began to carve out a future for themselves and found a permanent home. 
By practicing strict economy and being industrious they were finally able 
to purchase a farm for themselves. Three children came to gladden their 
home, which the fond parents named Nettie, now Mrs. Parker of Paxton, 
Illinois, Jessie and Daniel E. The children attended the district school, 
and later Daniel and Jessie became students of the high school of Eantoul, 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 719 

graduating with honor. Later Miss Jessie became a student at the Univer- 
sity of Illinois, graduating in 1911 in literature and art and attaining the 
degree of A. B. She then specialized in history and in 1913 took the degree 
A. M., after which she was employed as principal of the high school of 
Bantoul, filling in a satisfactory manner that position for four years. She 
was also employed as teacher in the high school of Pontiac, Illinois. At the 
present writing she is is carrying three courses in history and one in 
education at the university. When one considers the amount of work faith- 
fully performed in that number of years, the good seed sown in the lives 
of our young students, thus fitting them for life's duties, we can in a measure 
appreciate the value and worth of one whose influence is thus far reaching, 
and say, "All honor to whom honor is due." Miss Jessie is an interested 
member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa Alpha Pi Atheneum literary society 
of the university. 

Daniel McHarry, the only son of William McHarry and wife, wedded 
Miss Geil Smedley, a daughter of Elmer and Sarah (Bundy) Smedley, 
natives of Indiana. She was born at Salem, Indiana. 

The Smedley family migrated to Illinois when Geil was three years 
of age. The family consisted of two girls, Hallie and Geil. Geil received 
her education in the high school of Eantoul, graduating from the same. 
She is a cultured and winsome little wife. Daniel McHarry resides on the 
old McHarry estate, busily engaged in managing the farm. He is exten- 
sively interested in raising Shorthorn cattle and has some fine blooded horses. 
He is one of the progressive farmers of Eantoul. He believes a farmer 
should enjoy the useful things of life, and puts in practice these ideas. He 
farms his estate with an "International Titan" traction engine, making that 
engine do the work of eight horses, plowing, disking and preparing the soil 
for the grain. He also makes it do the heavy work of the farm, doing the 
belt work, running the ensilage cutter and filling the fine large silo which 
he built himself, having a capacity of seventy tons. He has also installed a 
smaller gasoline engine which runs the feed grinder, pumps all the water 
for the stock and farm purposes, and the ladies of the house think its best 
service in lightening labor is that of running the washing machine. He has 
a fine water system in the house, where hard or soft water may be had by 
simply turning a faucet. 

Mr. McHarry is a true type of an American, and believes in enjoying 
the good and useful things of life. He owns a fine Auburn five passenger 
car, which he understands thoroughly and runs sanely, making it a pleasure 
for his family to enjoy. The McHarry family are attentive members of the 
Congregational Church and liberal supporters of the same. Politically 
Mr. McHarry supports the Eepublican party. He is broad minded, how- 
ever, and believes in supporting principle instead of party, believing the 
man who will render the best service to the public is the one worthy of his 
support. The McHarry homestead has ever been noted for its hospitality. 
Their lives have been closely associated with Champaign County and they 
have experienced the joys and sorrows incident to the usual lot of humanity. 
In 1913 a great sorrow visited them in the death of the dear father, who 
entered into rest. He was a loving husband, an indulgent father, a kind 
neighbor and true friend. 

The lives of the McHarry family have been such that it garlands the 
name with pleasing memories of deeds of kindness and helpfulness. The 
family may be found at their pleasant home two miles north of Eantoul. 
The widowed mother is comforted by the presence of her children and is 
able to look back over their lives with pleasure to days well spent and duties 
well performed. 
f 



720 HISTOKY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

WILLIAM L. CRAY, M. D. The professional services of Dr. William L. 
Gray in Champaign County cover a period of more than a quarter of a 
century. In the quiet performance of his duty he has attended a large 
private practice, and has likewise become well known through his work 
in behalf of local institutions and as a citizen. Doctor Gray is in the front 
rank of surgeons in this section of Illinois. 

Doctor Gray was born in DeWitt County, Illinois, January 23, 1866. 
His parents were Worship and Mary Elizabeth (Salisbury) Gray. His 
father, who was born in County Cavan, Ireland, in 1833, came to America, 
and about 1863 located in DeWitt County, Illinois, becoming a farmer. 
He also for many years did an extensive business as a stock and grain 
buyer and shipper. His death occurred in 1905 when about seventy- 
three years of age. After coming to Illinois he married Mary Elizabeth 
Williams, a widow. She died in 1908. By her first marriage to Mr. 
Williams she had three children: Ella, wife of Silas Hand, at Cham- 
paign, well known in real estate circles; and Ira and Annie, deceased. 
Worship Gray and wife also had three children: Fred S., living in 
Florida; Doctor Gray; and Worship, now deceased. 

Doctor Gray during his boyhood attended the country schools and also 
the graded school, and his higher education was largely the product of his 
own earnings and steadfast ambition. He entered the Keokuk Medical 
College, from which he was graduated M. D. in 1891. Immediately after 
graduating he began practice at Champaign and has been steadily iden- 
tified with that city ever since. He has sought every opportunity outside 
the range of his personal observation and experience to improve his skill 
and ability. In 1898 he spent some months in the Post-Graduate Medical 
School at Chicago, was also in the clinics of the famous Mayo Brothers 
at Eochester, Minnesota, and has attended schools and hospitals in Boston 
and New York. In 1914 Doctor Gray went abroad for study and travel 
and was in London, England, when the great European war broke out. 

For the first ten years after locating at Champaign Doctor Gray was 
in general practice, but has since specialized in surgery and in consulta- 
tion. He has been surgeon of the Burnham Hospital at Champaign since 
1895, and is district surgeon of the Illinois Traction Company and of the 
Bell Telephone Company. 

On April 10, 1888, he married Miss Olive Anderson, a native of 
Champaign County. They are the parents of two children : Hubert W. 
and Muriel Olive. Doctor Gray served twenty years as a member of the 
Board of Education in Champaign, serving eight years of the time as 
president of the board, and for eight years was health officer. He is a 
member of the Masonic order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks. 

HOWARD WREAN. From the occupation of railroad engineer, which he 
followed for a number of years, Mr. Howard Wrean has turned to the quiet 
and productive resource of farming, with an excellent estate in section 6 of 
Harwood Township. Mr. Wrean is one of the competent agriculturists of 
Champaign County, and he and his family are people of many associations 
in this section. 

Mr. Wrean was born near Ludlow, a son of George and Amelia F. Wrean, 
his father a native of Nova Scotia and his mother of Denmark. They mar- 
ried in Pennsylvania and were the parents of seven children, all of whom 
grew up and received their education in the public schools at Ludlow. 
When George Wrean came to Champaign County he located on a farm west 
of Rantoul and later bought 170 acres a mile and a half northeast of that 
town. Here his promising career as a farmer was cut short after a resi- 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 721 

dence of only four years. He died suddenly in 1886. His widow survived 
until February 28, 1917. 

Mr. Howard Wrean married Miss Frances C. Marquette. She was born 
at Philo, Illinois, a daughter of James and Cornelia_(Ennis) Marquette, 
her father a native of Ohio and her mother of PhilaiMphia, Pennsylvania. 
They married at Philo, Illinois. The Marquettes are of French ancestry, 
but the family has been in this country for a number of generations. 
Mrs. Wrean was one of two children. Her brother, Thomas Ennis, was 
given as his middle name the name of his mother's family. Mrs. Wrean 
was named Frances Coyle, the second name being given in honor of some 
special Quaker friends of her mother in Philadelphia. Mrs. Wrean was a 
small child when her father died, and was seventeen years old when she 
lost her beloved mother. Mrs. Wrean and her brother were educated in the 
Philo High School, where Mrs. Wrean graduated. She then took up educa- 
tional work and for a number of years was a successful teacher in Cham- 
paign County. For one year she taught in Urbana and was also a teacher 
in the Ludlow High School. While at Ludlow in her work as teacher she 
became acquainted with Mr. Howard Wrean, and this friendship ended in 
their marriage. 

They were married December 22, 1901, in Chicago, and they lived in 
that city for one year. Mr. Wrean was then an engineer on the Illinois 
Central Railway, and continued that work for two more years with home 
at Champaign. Later they went out to Idaho and bought a ranch near 
Idaho Falls, and from there returned to Champaign County and located on 
the old Wrean homestead near "Ludlow. Here they have an attractive home 
and Mr. Wrean is making a great success as an agriculturist, chiefly with 
the crops of corn and oats. Some years he has threshed as high as eighty 
bushels of oats to the acre. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wrean have one son, Joy Thomas, who is now fifteen years 
of age and is prepared for the second year of high school at Ludlow. Mr. and 
Mrs. Wrean are active members of the Presbyterian Church at Philo. 
Mrs. Wrean's brother is also a member of that church and their lives since 
childhood have been identified with that community. Mr. Wrean is a 
member of the Masons, of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and 
Engineers and is a Republican in politics. 

The lives of the Marquette and Wrean families have been closely identi- 
fied with Champaign County for many years, and the people of that name 
have been known for their kindness, hospitality and general worth. Among 
the most valued personal friends of the family was the late Judge Cunning- 
ham, who until his death was actively interested in the preparation of this 
history of Champaign County. Mrs. Wrean has the vivacity of tempera- 
ment and the energy betraying her French ancestry and is a splendid type 
of womanhood and a most capable homemaker. 

WILLIAM E. SCHOWENGERDT, M. D. As even the layman finds wonder 
and interest in scanning the progress made by medical science from time 
to time, it is not remarkable that trained medical men should continue 
enthusiastic students and thereby still further deserve the faith and con- 
fidence of those who seek their healing ministrations. No men of any 
profession are so continuously students as are physicians, and the more 
competent and skillful they are the more closely do they devote attention 
to investigating the cause, prevention and cure of disease. They usually 
are real founts of wisdom ; in fact, they must be. The city of Champaign 
has a very representative body of physicians and surgeons, and in the 
foremost rank stands Dr. William E. Schowengerdt, who has been iden- 
tified with the professional, civil and social life of this city for two 
decades. 



722 HISTOKY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

William E. Schowengerdt was born in Warren County, Missouri, Sep- 
tember' 16, 1872. His grandparents were both natives of Germany and 
were early settlers in Warren County, Missouri, where Doctor Schowen- 
gerdt's parents, Henry and Louise (Schoppenhorst) Schowengerdt, were 
born, the former in 1842 and the latter in 1846. The father during life 
was a farmer. His death occurred in Lafayette County, Missouri, January 
2, 1909. The mother survives and resides at Higginsville, Missouri. They 
reared a family of seven children: Louis, who is engaged in farming 
at Higginsville, Missouri ; William E. ; Albert, a farmer at Higginsville ; 
Ernest, a farmer at Mayview, Missouri; Lizzie, who is the wife of Henry 
Held, also of Higginsville; and Eobert and Emma, both of whom live at 
Higginsville. 

Sometimes an ambitious and talented youth has difficulty in impressing 
upon his family the strength of his inclination in the direction of choice 
of career, but Doctor Schowengerdt was more fortunate. From the age 
of twelve years and all through his school days he cherished a desire 
to study medicine, a course in college being a necessary preliminary. In 
his father, in his nineteenth year, he found a benefactor who enabled him 
to pursue the collegiate course by lending him enough money for the 
expenses of one year away from home, but with the understanding that 
this sum should be finally repaid, in justice to his other heirs. 

Under these circumstances William E. Schowengerdt enjoyed a year 
of study in the Central Wesleyan College, located at Warrenton, Missouri. 
After returning home he entered upon the study of medicine under Dr. A. 
Braecklein of Higginsville, Missouri, with whom he remained a year and 
then entered the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, from which well 
known institution he was most creditably graduated March 23, 1897. It 
was on the first day of the following June that Doctor Schowengerdt 
entered into medical practice at Champaign, Illinois, where he has con- 
tinued active and successful ever since. In addition to- attending to a 
large practice, for the past twelve years he has served as city health 
officer. 

Doctor Schowengerdt was married April 28, 1897, to Miss Sophie 
Eabsahl, who was born in Missouri, and they have one son, William Henry, 
who was born in July, 1904. Doctor and Mrs. Schowengerdt are members 
of St. Peter's Evangelical Church. Although not unduly active in poli- 
tics, Doctor Schowengerdt conscientiously supports principles he believes 
to be right, being affiliated with the Eepublican party, and at times has 
accepted official position in a professional capacity or as a member of the 
board of education. He is identified with a number of representative 
fraternal organizations, including the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Modern 
Woodmen and the Order of Ben Hur. 

CHARLES BIECH. The farming community around Eantoul has no more 
progressive and public spirited citizen than Mr. Charles Birch, whose home 
is in section 21 of Eantoul Township. Mr. and Mrs. Birch have a model 
country home, and though still comparatively young they have surrounded 
themselves with ample comforts and have been able to liberally provide for 
a growing family of children. 

Mr. Birch was born in Piatt County, Illinois, a son of Thomas and Jane 
(Thompson) Birch. His parents were natives of Ireland and came to this 
country in early life. Mr. Charles Birch received his education in the 
schools of Piatt County, and from early manhood has followed steadily and 
sturdily the vocation of farming. 

On August 26, 1902, he married Miss Margaret Ward, a native of Cham- 
paign County. Her parents, Patrick and Mary (Williams) Ward, were also 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 723 

natives of Ireland. Mrs. Birch received her education in Champaign. They 
started their married life at Bondville in this county, and being without 
capital to buy land of their own they rented a tract and farmed it six years. 
Both of them exhibited business capacity and were willing to live econom- 
ically and simply in order to get a start. About eight years ago they bought 
160 acres contained in their present farm. Their home is four and a half 
miles northwest of Eantoul. They have excellent building improvements 
and conduct their farm on a business like basis. They also own 180 acres 
in Moultrie County, Illinois. 

The children born into their home are named Mary, Genevieve ? Ward, 
William, Margaret, Ilene and John Joseph. These children have been well 
educated in the Ludlow Center School, and Mary, who completed the eighth 
grade, is now a student in the Eantoul High School. Mr. and Mrs. Birch 
attend the Catholic Church at Eantoul, and were both reared in that faith. 
Politically Mr. Birch votes as a Democrat. He is the type of man who 
believes in making his citizenship count for good to the community as well 
as for his own and family's prosperity. When a meritorious undertaking is 
broached he is sure to give it his unqualified support, and, so far as his 
means permit, his financial assistance. This has been proved on numerous 
occasions. He has a special interest in the oncoming generation and is 
willing to sacrifice something of his own benefit in order that the children 
may have adequate school advantages. He is serving as a school director 
and has been a justice of the peace and township collector. Fraternally he 
is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. 

FRANK A. PARKER, D. 0. Among the different recognized schools of 
the healing art, the science of osteopathy has undoubtedly made notable 
progress within the last decade. Its principles have been found to be so 
sound and its cures of the ills of the human body so remarkably successful 
that its practitioners can show lists of satisfied patients each year increasing, 
from every walk of life. Among the leading osteopathic practitioners at 
Champaign no one is better known or more thoroughly relied on than 
Dr/ Frank A. Parker, who has been engaged in the practice of his science 
here since 1906. 

Frank A. Parker was born in Ford County, Illinois, November 6, 1866. 
His parents were Henry J. and Susanna (Walton) Parker, the former of 
whom was born in New York and the latter in Ohio. Both are now 
deceased. The father was a merchant and also was a farmer in Indiana. 

The youngest of a family of twelve children, Frank A. Parker had 
no exceptional advantages in youth but grew to the age of eighteen years 
as a farm hand during the summer seasons, attending the common schools 
during the winters. This educational training was later supplemented 
with a course of instruction at Valparaiso, Indiana. He was ambitious 
and an agricultural life as a finality did not appeal to him. Therefore 
he went to Chicago, the great city that has been largely built up through 
the brains and strength of the country boys who have sought and found 
opportunity there, and for three years he. was connected with one of the 
great express companies of Chicago, in the capacity of bookkeeper, in the 
meanwhile keeping wide awake for a better position. An opportunity 
finally came and he accepted a humble position with the Hammond Pack- 
ing Company at Hammond, Indiana, with the promise of promotion if 
deserving, and there continued, rising step by step until he had become 
assistant purchasing agent. This rise represented nine years of such close 
and strenuous work that his health gave signs of failing and he found it 
advisable to sever his relations with the company in order to engage in 
some work that would give him outdoor exercise. 

In the spring of 1904 Doctor Parker took up the business of writing 



724 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

insurance in Champaign. In the meanwhile his attention had been called 
to the success which was attending the practice of osteopathy, in some 
special cases, and this led to increasing interest and finally to a deter- 
mination to apply himself seriously to the study of the science. There- 
fore, in the fall of 1904, he enrolled himself as a student in the American 
School of Osteopathy, the fountain head, at Kirksville, Missouri, where 
he continued until he was graduated in 1906. He returned then to Cham- 
paign and opened an office and has been in active practice here ever since, 
his remarkable success testifying to his thorough knowledge as well as to 
the merits of his school of healing. 

Doctor Parker was married August 20, 1898, to Miss Clara Mashino, 
who was born in Kansas, and they have two children, Griffith H. and 
Euby Maurine. Doctor and Mrs. Parker are members of the First Baptist 
Church. Their home is in a very pleasant part of the city, their residence 
being at No. 133 West Park Avenue. 

Although an independent voter, Doctor Parker is by no means an 
indifferent citizen; on the other hand, zealously working for city improve- 
ment, especially along sanitation lines, and for the general moral uplift 
that none so well realize the desperate need of as does the physician. He 
leads a busy and useful life, finding in his profession a congenial career, 
hence has but little leisure to give to social or fraternal activities, although 
for many years he has been a valued member of the local lodge of Knights, 
of Pythias, 

JOHN D. SELTZER, now living retired at Villa Grove, spent many useful 
and productive years in Champaign County. These years dealt pleasantly 
with him and in response to his energy and good judgment rewarded him 
with one of the finest farms in Raymond Township, which he still owns, and 
he is able to look back upon his past years with a great deal of satisfaction, 
born of practical achievement and the performance of the many duties that 
are assumed by public spirited citizens like Mr. Seltzer. 

He is of old Pennsylvania stock and was born in Schuylkill County of 
that state April 6, 1843. His parents, Michael and Mary (Fryer) Seltzer, 
were natives of the same county. His father was a farmer, later engaged in 
the hotel business and for nine years served as superintendent of the Alms 
House in Pennsylvania. Going west, he lived about three years in Kansas, 
and through the inducement of his son John finally located in Champaign 
County. He and his wife had seven children : Francis and Abraham, both 
deceased, were Union soldiers in the Civil War ; Rebecca, now deceased ; 
Charles, also a veteran of the Union Army; John D. ; Amanda; and 
Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Borda, living in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. 

John D. Seltzer grew up in his native state, but early in life came west 
to Illinois and spent a year and a half farming around Naperville in the 
northern part of the state. In 1871 he came to Champaign County. His 
advent into the county was attended by some interesting circumstances. 

While living at Naperville he had acquired a handsome team of horses. 
He drove this team from Naperville south into Champaign County, and for 
a great many years it has been a matter of jest with his friends that he was 
overtaken when about a mile out of Urbana on his way to Tolono by the 
Champaign County sheriff and was accused of having stolen the team. 
Champaign County people were not as accustomed to such fine horses forty- 
five years ago as they are today, and Mr. Seltzer's team had been the object 
of much admiration while he was stopping in Urbana. A few wiseacres at 
Urbana decided that such a fine team could not have been justly owned and 
acquired by their driver, and the only other plausible explanation was that 
they had been stolen and were being driven away for disposal. The sheriff, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 725 

therefore, went in pursuit merely on this suspicion, but Mr. Seltzer soon 
convinced him and the deputy that they had an innocent man to deal with. 

On settling in Champaign County Mr. Seltzer bought 160 acres of rail- 
road land in section 30 of Raymond Township. For this land he paid only 
$12.50 an acre. Later he bought another quarter section for $15 a_n .acre, 
and finally 160 acres more at $30 an acre. This last quarter section "he sold 
some years ago for $120 an acre. Mr. Seltzer lived on his land, cultivated 
it to the staple crops, planted trees, tiled and ditched the low places, and 
left it to remove to Villa Grove in as complete a condition for practical and 
diversified farming as any other place in Raymond Township. 

John D. Seltzer married Sarah Erb, widow of Richard Davis. She was 
the' mother of one child by her first marriage, Charles Davis, a resident of 
Raymond Township. Mrs. Seltzer died February 26, 1908. She and 
Mr. Seltzer had five children : Elnora, widow of William Hays and living 
at Allison, Colorado; Amanda, wife of Jacob H. Joseph of Sidell, Illinois; 
Lydia, wife of Michael O'Neil of Longview, Illinois; John Franklin, who 
occupies the old homestead and is referred to in a later paragraph; Susie, 
wife of George W. Ewin of Villa Grove. 

Mr. John D. Seltzer is an active Democrat. He was highway commis- 
sioner and for twenty years school treasurer of his district in Ravmond 
Township. He belongs to the Grange or Patrons of Husbandry. 

John Franklin Seltzer is the son who is capably managing the old farm 
in Raymond Township, and was born in that township on section 30 Octo- 
ber 7, 1879. As a boy he attended the district schools, afterwards attended 
the high school at Champaign, and took a business college course .in Dan- 
ville. For nine months he had experience as a merchant at Fairland, and 
then returned home and took charge of the farm of 440 acres. He now has 
the active management of 280 acres and is also overseeing a large ranch of 
400 or 500 acres in Montana. He is a busy farmer and stockman and has 
shown that he possesses much of the sterling ability in this direction of his 
father. 

February 11, 1903, John F. Seltzer married Annie Kimmel, a native of 
Pennsylvania and a daughter of Jacob and Amanda (Seltzer) Kimmel. 
Both her parents are now deceased. Mrs. Seltzer was one of nine children, 
the oldest and the youngest, both sons, having died in infancy. The second 
child, Robert, lives at Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. The third child, a daugh- 
ter, died in infancy. Her brother George is deceased and her sister Estella 
is the wife of Arthur F. Young of Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Seltzer 
is the sixth in order of birth. Lottie is the wife of Newton Delbert of 
Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. Andrew is the youngest of the living children. 

Mr. and Mrs. John F. Seltzer had three children : Frank, who died in 
infancy; George K., born March 29, 1906; and John J., born October 20, 
1907. John F. Seltzer is a Democrat, has attained the thirty-second degree 
in the Scottish Rite of Masonry, belongs to the Mystic Shrine and is affili- 
ated with the Modern Woodmen of America. 

HOWARD NASH. The handling of real estate is a business of many 
angles and can scarcely be honorably and successfully carried on without 
a thorough knowledge of land values and also an understanding of many 
problems of law. Not every dealer, however, so carefully prepares himself 
for this line of activity as has Howard Nash, one of Champaign's most 
prominent real estate men, whose course in law and extended travels. have 
been but a part of his education for what he early determined to make his 
lifework. His success along this line has certainly justified his foresight 
in preparing for the work. 

Howard Nash was born at Mansfield, Illinois, May 26, 1876. His 
parents are Jesse and Martha (McKillop) Nash, both noted old Kentucky 



726 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

families and very prominent in Lewis County, where, the Nash family 
can be traced back for generations. During the Civil War both families 
were strong Unionists and the uncles on both sides served in the Union 
army. At the age of eighteen years Jesse Nash, father of Howard Nash, 
enlisted as a private in Company I, Fourth Kentucky Infantry, and was 
taken prisoner at Macon, Georgia, and was incarcerated at Andersonville. 
He possessed a strong enough constitution to survive the cruelties of that 
period of imprisonment, and saw four years of military service. In 1870 
he came to Illinois and located in Piatt County, where he and his wife 
still live, he being a large land owner. For some years he was a railroad 
contractor, taking contracts for the building of the Wabash Eailway, and 
later he invested in farm land and carried on agricultural activities until 
he retired. To Jesse Nash and wife the following children were born: 
Minnie L., who is a resident of Portland, Oregon; Howard; William S., 
who is an attorney in practice at Portland, Oregon; Bessie, who resides 
in Montana; Frederick A., who is a farmer in Piatt County, Illinois; 
Jessie M., who is the wife of Doctor Euden, a resident of Montana; and 
Walter B., who is a resident of Montana. 

Howard Nash attended the local schools and remained at home until 
he was twenty years of age, in the meanwhile planning a course of three 
years in Valparaiso College, having very definite and determined ideas 
on the subject of education. He demonstrated his courage and independ- 
ence by working his way through college, after which he returned to Piatt 
County and began to teach school and at the same time filled in all spare 
time and vacations in studying law, his preceptor being Charles F. Mans- 
field of Monticello, Illinois. In thus broadening his understanding, Mr. 
Nash did not have the practice of law in view, but desired a legal education 
because of its helpfulness in other lines. 

In 1902 Mr. Nash opened a real estate office at Mansfield and remained 
in business there until 1910, when he came to Champaign, and he is now 
located in the Trevett-Mattis Bank Building. As previously indicated, 
Mr. Nash has made a special study of land values, not only in Illinois, 
but on a much wider scale, traveling for this purpose over the country, 
making estimates and gathering information that has been of great benefit. 
His intelligent investigations have made him an expert, and operators all 
over the country consult with him and accept his opinion as to values. 

On December 14, 1904, Mr. Nash was united in marriage with Miss 
Bertie M. James, who was born at Mansfield, Illinois, and they have three 
children: Lyle J., who was born in 1905; Lois, who was born in 1908; 
and Howard, born in 1912. 

Mr. Nash is an ardent Eepublican and has attended every National 
Eepublican Convention since he was twenty years of age, not being inter- 
ested as a seeker for office, but because he believes in the principles of the 
organization to which he belongs and enjoys the congenial political fellow- 
ship he finds in these mighty gatherings. He is a strict party man and 
has devoted much time to the welfare of his party. His name may be 
found as a contributor to benevolent movements and charitable organiza- 
tions, and he is considered one of Champaign's leading public spirited 
citizens. 

JOSEPH E. PEARSON. Among the families that have helped forward the 
remarkable economic transformation by which the waste lands of Cham- 
paign County were reclaimed and converted into productive fields and a 
smiling landscape of happy homes, a place of prosperous usefulness belongs 
to those of the Pearson name represented by Mr. Joseph E. Pearson, whose 
home is in section 11 of Harwood Township. His postoffice is Ludlow. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 727 

Mr. Pearson was born in Mason County, Illinois, a son of Robert and 
Mary (Fletcher) Pearson. His father was a native of England but married 
in America, and from Mason County moved to Champaign County. When 
the Pearsons first settled here they had many unpleasant things to contend 
with. Much of the land was wet, covered with sloughs, and acre after acre 
had to be redeemed to cultivation at the expense of much labor and money. 
But Robert Pearson had the energy requisite for such an undertaking, and 
in course of time he not only had a fine farm, but became one of the exten- 
sive land owners in Champaign County, having an estate of 560 acres. He 
and his wife finally retired to a comfortable home in Rantoul, where this 
good old timer entered into rest in 1913. 

Joseph R. Pearson was educated in the public schools, and, was also a 
student in the State Normal University at Normal and in the college at 
Paxton. 

He married Miss Clara J. Johnson, who was born in Champaign County, 
a daughter of Isaac and Alice (Belford) Johnson. Her father was a native 
of Vermilion County, Illinois, and her mother of Ohio. Mrs. Pearson was 
educated in the public schools, the high school at Gifford and Greer College 
at Hoopeston, Illinois. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Pearson began 
life on the old homestead of Father Pearson, and he has since had the active 
management of this splendid farm. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Pearson were born eight children : Mary Alice, Robert 
J., Bessie Lenore, Eva Pauline, Lowell B., Glen Leroy, Donald Richard and 
Harold Fletcher. This is a family of bright and energetic children, true 
types of American boys and girls. They received their preliminary educa- 
tion in the Webber District School. Mary graduated from the high school 
at Paxton and Robert did two years of work in that high school. Lenore is 
still a student in high school, a member of the junior class, while Pauline 
recently became the proud possessor of a diploma from the eighth grade. 

As a farmer Mr. Pearson is giving a good account of his energies and 
ability. His principal crops are corn and oats, and in an ordinary season 
he gets seventy-five bushels of corn to the acre. As a stock man he raises 
some fine Percheron horses of French imported strains and has a herd of 
Jersey cows, shipping cream to market. 

The family attend worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church of Gif- 
ford, and the children are all active in the Sunday school. Mr. Pearson is 
affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and in politics gives sup- 
port to the Democratic party. 

Thus the lives of the Pearson family have been closely identified with 
Champaign County since early times. Their industry has brought about 
the improvement of a considerable acreage and they are to be credited with 
success as homemakers and with that public spirit which flows from capable 
and upright people. Mr. Pearson's mother is still living in her home at 
Rantoul and spends the winters in southern climates, chiefly in Florida. 
Mr. and Mrs. Pearson are carrying the responsibilities of their farm, have a 
pleasant home and enjoy the confidence and esteem of a large community. 
Mrs. Pearson is an energetic and cultured woman and takes proper pride in 
her home and her happy family circle. 

CHARLES J. MULLIKIX is a native of Champaign County, has been a 
farmer, merchant, real estate and insurance man, and all his activities have 
done him credit. He is one of the most influential Democrats of this sec- 
tion of Illinois, and is now serving his term as postmaster of Champaign. 
Mr. Mullikin was born in this county, April 4, 1867. He is a son of 
George C. and Nancy (Jones) Mullikin, the former a native of Indiana and 
the latter of Kentucky. 

The branch of the Mullikin family to which the subject of our sketch 



728 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

belongs came from Scotland, first locating in this country in the early part 
of the sixteenth century, in the province of Maryland, as a part of the 
Lord Baltimore colony. James Mullikin, of whom the subject of this 
sketch is a direct descendant, was granted land in the province of Mary- 
land for services rendered in bringing over emigrants to this country from 
Scotland; part of the land thus ceded was a fine tract in the forks of the 
Patuxent River near Baltimore. This tract was improved and became the 
original homestead of the family in 1668. The farm has never passed out 
of the family name and is now inhabited and owned by a Mullikin. 

The Mullikins were owners of several plantations and numerous slaves 
throughout Maryland before the Civil War. The early generations were 
communicants of the Episcopal churches, but the later generations, how- 
ever, were principally affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
early members of this family were tall, large formed, brawny men of fair 
and florid complexion, and as a family were possessed of superior intelli- 
gence and public spirit, most of them showing military tastes and many of 
them having held commissions in the Revolution and subsequent wars. The 
great-grandfather of our subject was born on the family homestead in Mary- 
land, at the "Forks of the Patuxent," during the year 1767. In the year 
1811 he sold to other members of the family his interests in the homestead, 
and with his family and household goods, enclosed in wagons, removed 
with his slaves and stock to Fleming County, Kentucky, where he located. 
In 1812 he enlisted in the War of 1812, being a member of the celebrated 
Squirrel Hunter "Riflemen" Company from Kentucky. After the war he 
proceeded from New Orleans, with other companions, through the wilder- 
ness on foot to his home in Kentucky. The grandfather of Charles J. when 
a young man came from Maryland to Kentucky with his father, served his 
country in the War of 1812, being made captain, and later he moved to 
Johnson County, Indiana, where George C. Mullikin, the father of our 
subject, was born. In 1865 George C. Mullikin, following the inherited 
spirit of his grandfather, removed in a prairie schooner from Johnson 
County, Indiana, to Piatt County, Illinois. George C. Mullikin was a type 
of character such as not only his children but a large community always 
respect and remember with grateful esteem. He spent one year in Piatt 
County, and in 1866 located on a farm in Scott Township of Champaign 
County. He was a practical, hard-working farmer. He had a rugged 
physique and constitution, and was as big in heart and sympathy as he 
was in body. He stood six feet tall and was large in proportion. His 
faithful wife left him in 1879, and at her death there were five young chil- 
dren. Seldom has a man met his responsibilities with such versatile 
resourcefulness, prompted by love, as George C. Mullikin did when his 
wife died, laboring in absolute poverty. As a tenant farmer he worked in 
the fields and kept the farm going as usual. At the same time he looked 
after all the duties of the household, caring for the young children, cooking 
for them, mending their clothes and performing all the housework which 
the older children could not do. Thus he kept his children together until 
they had reached self-supporting manhood and womanhood. It is not 
strange that his children came to regard him as more than a father, and 
with a veneration which will never depart from their memory. The death 
of this worthy citizen occurred March 19, 1914. The five children were: 
Joseph, a farmer in Champaign Township; Charles J., who was the second 
oldest; Mary, wife of T. H. Walker of Bondville, Champaign County; 
Austin of Illiopolis, Sangamon County, Illinois; and William, who died in 
infancy. 

After all his children were old enough to look out for themselves 
George C. Mullikin married for his second wife Corrina J. Hunter, who 
survives him and now makes her home at Bondville, and is a woman of 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 729 

admirable character, who cared for her husband to the very last and who 
is respected and loved by her step-children and her grandchildren as if she 
were their real mother and grandmother. 

Charles J. Mullikin grew up on the farm, and besides the duties he 
learned and assumed at home he attended the local public schools. When 
he was twenty-one years of age his father gave him a team and wagon and 
a couple of plows. With that equipment he rented a small tract of land 
and farmed it a year. He then sold his interest, and about that time he 
married a popular young school teacher of the neighborhood. The young 
couple removed to Bondville, bought a home there, and Mr. Mullikin found 
a position with the local grain elevator for a year. From Bondville he 
came to Champaign, and) for a year was a locomotive fireman with the 
Illinois Central Eailroad Company. Returning to Bondville, he accepted 
financial help from his father and bought a general merchandise store. He 
was one of the leading merchants of that village for six years, and during 
that time he served as town clerk, and on February 27, 1893, was appointed 
postmaster of Bondville, about the time President Cleveland began his 
second term. In 1895 Mr. Mullikin traded his store for a farm in Indiana. 
He never occupied the farm or managed it personally, but instead engaged 
in the real estate and insurance business at Champaign. 

In the past twenty years Mr. Mullikin has become one of the leading real 
estate and insurance men of the city. He has handled a very extensive 
business in that time. In 1896 he was elected an alderman from the 
Third Ward and from August, 1896, until January, 1898, served as 
assistant postmaster of Champaign, filling the vacancy caused by the death 
of the assistant postmaster. In 1900 he was elected mayor, giving the city's 
affairs a splendidly efficient and economical administration during his one 
term. He has also served as Democratic State Central Committeeman. In 
February, 1914, he was appointed postmaster of Champaign and is now 
giving all his time to the duties of that office. 

On March 8, 1889, Mr. Mullikin married Elizabeth E. Lowman, who 
was born at Champaign, a daughter of Allison and Sarah J. (Lytle) Law- 
man. Both her parents were born in Pennsylvania and both are now 
deceased. Mr. Mullikin is affiliated with the Masonic order, the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks. He and his wife are members of the Congregational Church. 

CHARLES H. SPEARS, M. D. While the success of the ethical physician 
does not permit of the analysis to which a career in other lines of business 
or in other professions might be subjected, there are many things that 
indicate the standing of the reputable doctor of medicine. His associations 
in medical circles, his length of practice, his training, all have a bearing 
upon his relative success. Measured by whatever standard, Dr. Charles H. 
Spears is one of Champaign County's foremost physicians. He has been 
in practice at the city of Champaign for upwards of twenty years. 

Doctor Spears was born in Shelbyville, Illinois, April 22, 1873, a son 
of Henry and Rebecca (Warner) Spears. His father was a native of 
Ohio, moved from that state to Illinois, and was a farmer in both com- 
monwealths. About six years ago he removed to Champaign, where he 
now lives retired. 

Educated in the public schools of Illinois, Doctor Spears took up the 
study of medicine in the medical department of the University of St. Louis, 
where he was graduated in 1897. He then located in Pana, Illinois, 
where he practiced until moving to Champaign. So far as the practical 
demands upon his time and attention have permitted, he has neglected no 
opportunity to improve himself and gain the highest possible proficiency 
in his work. He took post-graduate courses in the Medical College of 



730 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Chicago and had much hospital service, specializing in diseases of the 
eye, ear, nose and throat. He also studied along the lines of their specialties 
for one year in the hospitals of London, England. 

After his return to the United States Doctor Spears resumed his prac- 
tice in Champaign, where he has since been in practice. His finely equipped 
offices are in the Illinois Building, the finest building in the city. He has 
prospered in a business way and owns considerable real estate in Champaign 
and elsewhere. 

Doctor Spears married Miss Nellie E. Ainsworth, a native of Champaign 
County. They have two sons, Charles and John. Doctor Spears is a 
Eepublican in politics, is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America and is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is also a member of the Champaign 
County Medical Society, the Illinois State Medical Society, the Twin City 
Physicians' Club, is on the staff of Julia F. Burnham Hospital and also 
on the staff of the Julia F. Burnham Training School for Nurses, and is 
local oculist for the Illinois Traction System and the Illinois Central 
Eailway. 

JOHN MURPHY. A fine farm, a good home, an excellent family belong 
to John Murphy, one of the prominent residents of Kerr Township, his well 
cultivated acres being located in section 32. 

Mr. Murphy is a native of Ireland, a son of Martin and Mary Murphy. 
He grew up in his native isle and was twenty-four years of age when, seeking 
the better opportunities of the New World, he immigrated to America and 
came direct to Champaign County. This section of the New World seemed 
to offer especial promise to young men of limited capital and unlimited 
energy and he soon found work as a hand. 

It was after coming to this country that he married Miss Jennie Whalen. 
She was born in County Wexford, Ireland, daughter of James and Mary 
(Cullen) Whalen. She also was twenty-four years of age when she came 
to America with two cousins named Gordon. She was the first member of 
her immediate family to come to this country. She was ambitious and able 
to work and willing to do her part. She first came to Gifford, where she had 
cousins and friends, and the first friendly face she met after leaving her 
home in Ireland was her cousin, Joseph Gordon, who took he*r to his home, 
where she remained four years. While there she made the acquaintance of 
John Murphy, a young Irishman from the same part of Ireland, and in a 
short time they were married. They began housekeeping east of Gifford on 
the farm of Mr. Sunderland. They rented land from Mr. Sunderland six 
years, and there they laid the foundation for their permanent prosperity. 
They next moved half a mile south of Penfield, and for three years rented a 
farm from Mr. Benjamin. By that time through strict economy and thrifty 
saving they had accumulated enough to enable them to purchase 120 acres 
north of Penfield. In that locality they have made their home ever since. 

Six children were born to them, and they lost one, Thomas Eichard, in 
infancy. The others are, James, Mary, John, Margaret and Mildred. One 
of the first things Mr. and Mrs. Murphy thought about was the proper edu- 
cation of these children. They sent them regularly to the Stonestreet dis- 
trict school and afterwards to the Penfield High School. Miss Mary was 
graduated in 1916 from the high school and made a splendid record as a 
student. The subject of her graduating thesis was "The Value of Eeputa- 
tion," and many compliments were paid her for the manner in which she 
treated this subject and for its delivery. Besides her literary training she 
took music lessons from Mrs. Klein, and music has always been encouraged 
as a feature of culture in the Murphy home. The daughter Mary had an 
ambition to teach school but so far has been hindered in taking the examina- 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 731 

tion on account of illness. The son James Murphy is living on his father's 
old farm. He married Esther Kelley, daughter of Patrick Kelley, present 
postmaster of Penfield. Mr. and Mrs. James Murphy have a little daughter,' 
Mary Vivian, who at this writing is four months old. The other children 
of Mr. and Mrs. Murphy are students in school and Margaret has taken 
piano instruction from Miss Grace Gray. 

Mr. Murphy has done his part toward maintaining high standards in the 
local schools and has served several years as a school director. The family 
are active members of the Catholic Church at Penfield, all the children hav- 
ing been reared and confirmed in that faith. In matters of politics 
Mr. and Mrs. Murphy are Democrats. In northeastern Champaign County 
the ability and success of Mr. Murphy's efforts as a farmer need no special 
mention. Farming with him is a business and crops always seem to prosper 
under his skillful touch. Mr. and "Mrs. Murphy have developed a fine grove 
of trees on their farm, an attractive feature of the landscape, furnishing 
protection to the live stock both winter and summer. 

A word should be said concerning the younger children in school. 
Margaret is now in the seventh grade and Mildred in the fourth grade. 
Mr. and Mrs. Murphy have done everything they could to encourage their 
children in obtaining the best of educational advantages. Their daughter 
Mary especially excelled in penmanship and was awarded a Palmer's certifi- 
cate for skill in writing. 

JOHN WALLACE MULLIKEN. It is said that the greatest incentive to 
ambition for young people who have not yet discovered their proper talents 
and place in life are stories of successful self-made business men. Any 
boy might be encouraged by reading something of the career of John W. 
Mulliken, one of Champaign's leading merchants. 

Mr. Mulliken has been a resident of Champaign County for over sixty 
years. He came to the county when a boy of six and he had practically 
no opportunities to gain an education. This was partly due to the fact 
that good public schools did not exist during his youth and also because 
of the necessity which early put him in the ranks of wage earners. When 
he was only eight years of age he entered the store of Walker Brothers in 
Champaign to learn the undertaking and furniture business. He remained 
steadily with this firm until 1877. This partnership later dissolved, and 
Mr. Mulliken was taken into the new firm, which later became known as 
Walker & Mulliken. Mr. Walker died in 1905, and at that time Mr. 
Mulliken took over the entire business and is now conducting it as a 
furniture store, having abandoned the undertaking business. He has given 
Champaign its largest and most complete furniture establishment. He 
carries over $40,000 worth of stock and is able to supply every demand 
that reasonable taste requires. 

He was extremely young when his father died, and he has always taken 
a great deal of satisfaction in having undertaken the support of the family 
after it was deprived of the father's care. As his work was better rewarded 
he borrowed $600 to buy his mother a little home. On this borrowed money 
he paid interest at 1% per cent per month. It required four years of 
strict saving and hard work in order to pay off the debt. 

Mr. Mulliken has always had musical talent and has done much to 
cultivate it. Even as a boy he was able to earn money on the side by 
playing in an orchestra. His employer, Mr. Walker, would let him off from 
business, knowing the uses to which he was putting his time. He used to 
play the tuba or the "bass," as it was called popularly, in the band, and 
in the orchestra his instrument was the double bass viol. 

Mr. Mulliken was born in Steuben County, New York, March 9, 1849, 



732 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

a son of Albert and Susan (Cook) Mulliken, both natives of the same 
county. Albert Mulliken was a lumber dealer in New York and he 
brought his family to Champaign June 15, 1855. Here for three years he 
was line agent for the Illinois Central Eailway, and then embarked in the 
agricultural implement business, which he continued until his death on 
July 23, 1864. His widow survived him many years. There were eight 
children, John W. being the youngest. William is .now deceased. Fran- 
cis G. died at Duluth, Minnesota, January 1, 1917. at the age of eighty-four. 
Sarah is deceased. Clarence, deceased, undertook at the age of twenty 
years to copy the courthouse records of Champaign County, and he soon 
afterward enlisted in Company G of the Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry, 
and died during the service. Edmund F. was also a soldier in Company G 
of the Twenty-fifth Illinois, was mustered out with the rank of sergeant- 
major and is now deceased. Herbert, deceased, enlisted in the Seventy- 
sixth Illinois Infantry as band musician and served throughout the war. 
Helen, a twin sister of Herbert, is the widow of James C. Wright and 
lives at Champaign. 

Mr. John W. Mulliken married September 10, 1876, Miss Josephine 
Danforth, a native of Union County, Ohio. She died in 1908, leaving 
two children, Albert D., an attorney at Champaign, and Phoebe, wife 
of Ellsworth Story of Seattle, Washington. Albert D. Mulliken married 
Pearl Mulberry, a native of Illinois, and they have two children, Wallace M. 
and Albert D. On July 10, 1911, Mr. Mulliken married for his present 
wife Jean Agnew, then a resident of Detroit but a native of Canada. Mr. 
Mulliken is a Republican in politics. He is a member of the Lodge, Chap- 
ter and Knight Templar Commandery of Masons, also belongs to the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and was a charter member of 
the Knights of Pythias lodge, but has given up that affiliation. 

HENRY C. BEAK is one of the oldest residents of Champaign County. 
He went from Macon County as a brave and gallant soldier into the Union 
Army during the Civil War, returned after the war with his wounds and 
gave his energy to agriculture until his health would permit following that 
no longer, and now for many years he has been engaged in the grain business 
at Penfield. His is a record that deserves more than passing mention. 

He was born at Mount Rock in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, a 
son of David and Maria (Yoter) Bear. His father was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania and his mother of Maryland. Henry C. was the oldest of their nine 
children and was fifteen years of age when the family came to Illinois, 
locating at Decatur in Macon County. Mr. Bear and his brothers and sis- 
ters were educated partly in Plainfield, Pennsylvania, and also in Illinois. 

On November 17, 1859, Mr. Bear married Miss Lucetta Jane Likins. 
She was born in Marion County, Ohio, a daughter of John and Sarah (Cole) 
Likins, also natives of Ohio. Mrs. Bear was likewise fifteen years of age 
when her parents came to Illinois. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bear 
located in Oakley Township in Macon County and were quietly engaged in 
the peaceful vocation of farming for several years. 

Not long after the war began Mr. Bear showed his practical patriotism 
by enlisting in Company A of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois 
Infantry. He enlisted at Decatur, went south to Memphis, and was soon 
with General Sherman's great armies operating around Vicksburg. Mr. Bear 
had his first experience in the scenes of warfare at Chickasaw Bayou, the 
engagement in which General Grant nearly lost the day and would have 
been defeated had it not been for the coming up of General Sherman's 
troops. Mr. Bear was next at Arkansas Post under General McClelland and 
was at the capture of Fort Hinman, where the Federals captured 5,500 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 733 

Rebels. He was then again with the troops in the investment and siege of 
Vicksburg and helped dig the canal across the river from Vicksburg at 
Young's Point. He was also a participant in the expedition up the Yazoo 
River to Black Bayou and was in the skirmish with the Confederates who 
tried to prevent the Union forces from securing several gunboats. Mr. Bear 
was a participant in those fruitless efforts of General Grant in the early 
months of 1863 to open up the Mississippi by means of canals and in the 
later movements by which Sherman and Grant's armies engaged the Con- 
federates at Fort Gibson, Bolton, Raymond and other points in the rear of 
Vicksburg. He was also at Champion Hill and Black River Bridge and on 
the 18th of May he was one of Grant's forces that seized the Confederate 
stronghold of Haines Bluff. On the next day Grant ordered an assault on 
the Vicksburg works, intending to charge with the entire line. He changed 
his mind and countermanded part of the order. The batteries, however, 
gave the signal to charge and two divisions, one of which Mr. Bear was a 
member, stormed the fort and were badly used by the Confederate garrison. 
Mr. Bear was severely wounded in this charge and was sent to Van Buren 
Hospital, where he remained until that hospital was discontinued on August 
20th. The patients were sent to a hospital at Keokuk, Iowa, and on June 1, 
1865, after the war was over, Mr. Bear was honorably discharged. The 
surgeons were never able to find the bullet which wounded him and he still 
carries it in his body and it has been a source of more or less trouble to him 
ever since. Besides his own wound Mr. Bear while at Vicksburg had to 
suffer the loss of a younger brother, William W. Bear. His death was caused 
by severe exposure during a storm. Mr. Bear ministered to the comfort of 
this brother during his last illness, and obtained a coffin in which he was 
laid to rest on one of the great battlefields around the Mississippi stronghold. 

After his honorable discharge Mr. Bear returned home. Mrs. Bear had 
in the meantime lived with her own and her husband's people and had 
endured bravely the sacrifices which every soldier's wife must make in time 
of war. Before he went into the army they had buried their first child, 
Minerva May. When he returned from the army his wife presented him with 
a little daughter, then a year old, which she had named Eugenia C. With 
his family reunited Mr. Bear took up. the thread of life again as a farmer, 
and in the spring of 1869 located on a farm near Penfield in -Champaign 
County. 

Two other children were born to their marriage. Their names were 
Mary M. and Eudora. Eudora died at four years of age of typhoid fever. 
Mr. and Mrs. Bear gave their children the best of educational advantages, 
at first in the district schools and then in the Penfield schools. The daugh- 
ter Eugenia married David P. Cox, and they now reside in Denver, Colorado. 
To their union were born three children, named Thomas Henry, Weaver B. 
and Mary J. The son Weaver died and was buried after they moved to 
Denver. 

Mary M. Bear married G. W. Hadden. Mr. Hadden with Mr. Henry 
Bear is engaged in the elevator business at Penfield and Gerald. They own 
the two elevators, the one at Penfield having a capacity of 16,000 bushels, 
and that at Gerald 35,000 bushels. In the course of a year they handle a 
large amount of the grain raised and produced in this section. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hadden have one child, Stanley B. Hadden, a fine manly boy who 
finished the eighth grade of the Penfield schools and then pursued the full 
course in the University of Illinois, from which he graduated. On leaving 
the university he became associated with his father and grandfather at 
Penfield. In 1016 he was solicited to teach the Gerald school, and his suc- 
cess there caused his engagement for the year 1917-18 as principal of the 
Penfield school. His father, G. W. Hadden, had been a teacher for twenty- 
five years, and education has been something of a family profession. Stanley 



734 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

B. Hadden married Miss Sylvia Kenner of Urbana, . daughter of Enos 
Renner of that city. One child was born, Jane Elizabeth, on November 8, 
1915. She is now eighteen months old and Mr. Henry Bear is very proud 
of his great-grandchild. 

The Bear family attend the United Brethren Church in Penfield and 
have for many years been liberal supporters of its cause. Mr. Bear was an 
early abolitionist and in the main has supported men rather than the party. 
He is a member of the Knights of Pythias. For the past thirty-six years he 
and his wife have lived in Penfield, since his wounds received in his coun- 
try's service incapacitated him for farm labor. The Bear home has been one 
of hospitality and one of the centers of culture and good influence in this 
section of the county. Mr. Bear has spent nearly half a century in Cham- 
paign County and has never cared to be away from the county for any length 
of time. He went to the capital at Washington, D. C., to attend President 
Cleveland's inauguration. The great recreation of his life has been fishing. 
No walk has been too long and the sun has never been too bright to hinder 
him from such sport. He was also an early day hunter and killed a number 
of deer in Macon County. His friends once planned a birthday surprise 
party for him. Mr. Azro Arms was delegated to keep Mr. Bear busy at the 
elevator until the company had assembled. He induced Mr. Bear to shoot 
at tin cans thrown into the air. After numerous failures and a few success- 
ful shots Mr. Bear said, "This is only a waste of ammunition. I can't shoot 
these cans like you." Mr. Arms was somewhat of an expert in this sport. 
To keep the unwitting host a little longer he replied, "What do we care for 
ammunition ? You are doing first rate ; keep on and try again." Thus he 
was able to divert him until the company had assembled and then they went 
together to the house. On seeing the crowd Mr. Bear understood Mr. Arms' 
enthusiasm and he enjoyed the joke as much as the rest of the company. 

His life has been noted for honesty of purpose and has been a long and 
commendable one. Of his good wife the following words may be appropri- 
ately recalled : 

"It is a wonderful thing, a mother. Other folks may love you, but only 
your mother understands. She works for you, prays for you, watches over 
you, forgives you anything you may do, understands you, and the only thing 
unkind she ever does to you is to die and leave you." 

GEOHGE B. FRANKS. Considered as an art, landscape gardening is one 
that has a definite place in life, appealing to and satisfying that innate 
sense of the beautiful that all possess to some degree. Nature points the 
way and it is the precious gift of the landscape gardener to be able to 
reproduce, in limited space, her noble effects and most pleasing arrange- 
ment of tree, shrub and flower. The wonderful facility in this direction, 
as in other artistic talents, is largely an inherited gift, although to make 
it practical, of course, there must be much definite knowledge, mathematical 
and otherwise. Perhaps no university grounds in the country, and cer- 
tainly none other in the State, have been as carefully and tastefully laid 
out as those of the University of Illinois and this admirable example of 
landscape gardening will long perpetuate the name of Franks, a name 
that has been identified here with flowers and gardening for almost a half 
century. The business, established in 1871 by the late Thomas Edward 
Franks, is prosperously continued by his son and partner, George B. 
Franks, the leading florist and very prominent citizen of Champaign. 

George B. Franks was born at Champaign, Illinois, November 2, 1879. 
His parents were Thomas Edward and Annie (English) Franks, the former 
of whom was born in England and the latter in Ireland. Thomas Edward 
Franks was a nurseryman in England before immigrating to Canada, in 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 735 

1865, after which he became a landscape gardener, first near Hamilton, 
Ontario, and then in Cook County, Illinois, and was associated with others 
in laying out Lincoln Park, Chicago. 

In 1868 Thomas Edward Franks came to the city of Champaign, and 
here for three years he had entire charge of laying out and beautifying 
the grounds of the University of Illinois, a task he enjoyed and the result 
being admirable in every way. In 1871 Mr. Franks purchased property 
on the corner of Randolph and Vine streets, Champaign, and there started 
the first greenhouse in the city. In 1892 he enlarged the scope of his 
business, purchasing land at No. 204 East University Avenue, where he 
erected a nursery and greenhouse plant, and subsequently established a 
branch for raising cut flowers on North Goodwin Avenue. Both plants 
are of modern construction with every improved equipment known to the 
business, and there are in the older plant 15,000 feet of glass. Mr. Franks 
admitted his son, George B. Franks, to partnership in 1905, but continued 
an active factor in the business until 1911, when he retired. His death 
occurred October 8, 1916, having survived his wife since November 9, 
1901. 

George B. Franks attended the public schools at Champaign, and after 
completing the high school course expressed a desire for a business life, 
shortly afterward accepting a position in the State National Bank of 
Oklahoma, at Oklahoma City. The death of his mother in 1901 recalled 
him home, and because of his father's loneliness, he being the only child, 
he decided to give up his prospects in Oklahoma and remain with his 
father, his tastes also having considerable influence, for he has inherited 
the love for flowers and the understanding methods which have made both 
father and son successful along this line. He applied himself to the prac- 
tical details of the business and gave his father valued assistance for four 
years and then was admitted to a partnership in the business of which he 
is now sole owner, and during the last five years of his father's life was 
the same to a large extent, being the active manager after 1911. When 
the Champaign Park Board was organized his father served as a member 
and Mr. Franks also has served three years as a member of this board. 

On October 31, 1911, Mr. Franks was united in marriage with Miss 
Janet Styles, who was born in Missouri, and they have one son, who bears 
his grandfather's honored name, Thomas Edward Franks. Mr. and Mrs. 
Franks are members of the Episcopal Church. 

In political life Mr. Franks has been quite active for a number of 
years and in 1910 was elected on the Democratic ticket alderman of the 
Third Ward, in which office he served with the greatest efficiency and public 
spirit until May 1, 1917, when the city adopted the commission form of 
government, when Mr. Franks was elected on the commission and is now 
serving as commissioner of public safety. He was the only man who was 
carried over from the old form of government in Champaign. He is well 
known in fraternal circles, belonging to Western Star Lodge, A. F. & 
A. M. ; Champaign Chapter and Commandery and Mohammed Temple, 
A. A. 0. N. M. S., at Champaign, and the Eastern Star, and additionally 
belongs to the Elks, the Order of Ben Hur and the Knights of Pythias. 

JULIUS M. GEHRT has been successfully identified with Champaign 
County agriculture for a number of years, and is the owner and proprietor 
of a fine farm in section 33 of Harwood Township, near the village of 
Dillsburg. 

Mr. Gehrt was born at Lawn Ridge, Illinois, a son of John M. and 
Catherine (Best) Gehrt. His parents were both born in Germany, came 
to America in early life, were married in this country and the father is 



736 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

still living, at the ripe age of eighty-three, on his farm in Stark County, 
Illinois. The mother is now deceased. Julius M. Gehrt was next to the 
youngest in a family of eight children. 

He grew up on his father's farm in Stark County and attended the 
public schools at Spear in that county. January 15, 1902, he married 
Miss Carolina Kuhn. Mrs. Gehrt is a native of Germany, born near the 
city of Berlin, and fourth among the five children of Philip and Elizabeth 
(Hoeltzel) Kuhn. The Kuhn children were named Philip, Salome, Fred, 
Carolina and Elizabeth. When Mrs. Gehrt was eleven years of age the 
family came to America and she and her brothers and sisters attended the 
public schools of Peoria and of Stark County, Illinois. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Gehrt located on a rented farm in 
Peoria County, but in 1903 they rented a place of 160 acres owned by 
his father near Dillsburg in Champaign County. Here their years have 
been prospered and they now have the active management of a place of 
347 acres. Mr. Gehrt is a very methodical and progressive farmer and 
has introduced many practices approved by experience. He does much 
stock raising, and has a herd of fine Durham cows and ships large quan- 
tities of cream. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gehrt are the parents of five children: Forest L., 
Elmer F., Ernest H., Alice May and Julius. The children are being edu- 
cated in the Battles school district, and the oldest child, Forest, 'now twelve 
years of age, is just entering the eighth grade. 

Mrs. Gehrt is an active member of the German Lutheran Church at 
Gifford and the children attend the Sunday school at Eantoul. Mr. Gehrt 
has proved public spirited in his community relations as well as progressive 
in his business as a farmer. He served several years as school trustee 
and in politics is a stanch Eepublican. He and his wife maintain a most 
hospitable home, and their relations with the community have been char- 
acterized by neighborly kindness as well as by hard work and the intelli- 
gence which has brought them a good home and substantial prosperity. 

GEORGE W. HARWOOD is one of the oldest business men still in active 
service in the city of Champaign. He came to Champaign County soon 
after the Civil War, in which he had fought gallantly as a Union soldier, 
and during the greater part of his residence here has been in the real estate 
and insurance business. There is no man better informed on the changing 
values of real estate and with a more authoritative knowledge of realty 
conditions. 

Mr. Harwood is of New England birth and ancestry, and was born at 
North Brookfield, Worcester County, Massachusetts, September 18, 1841. 
His parents, George and Angeline (Allen) Harwood, were also natives of 
Massachusetts, spent their lives there, and his father was a farmer in mod- 
erate circumstances. There were three children : Anna, deceased ; 
George W. ; and Ethan A., who still lives on the old home place at North 
Brookfield. 

George W. Harwood had the training of the typical New England boy, 
grew up to habits of industry, learned the lessons of the district schools, 
and at the age of twenty enlisted in Company E of the Thirty-sixth Massa- 
chusetts Infantry. He saw three years of hard service. He was in some 
of the greatest campaigns of the war. At Jackson, Mississippi, during 
the Yicksburg campaign, he was wounded, and again was wounded at Camp- 
bell's Station in Tennessee. He went in as private and came out as first 
lieutenant. He was mustered out at Eeedville, Massachusetts. 

The first year after his army service he was an employe in a Massachu- 
setts shoe factory. In 1866 Mr. Harwood came out to Champaign County, 



HISTOEY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 737 

and for five years was a practical farmer in Newcomb Township. He then 
removed to Champaign and ever since has been engaged in the real estate 
and insurance business. He has handled many large and important 
transactions in local realty and has also represented some of the standard 
insurance companies. Mr. Harwood is now secretary of the Champaign 
Loan and Banking Association. His offices are located at 21 Main Street. 
His citizenship has always been straightforward and public spirited. 
He is a Bepublican, an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
and belongs to the military order of the Loyal Legion. He and his family 
are members of the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Harwood married- 
in November, 1866, Miss Mary N. Harwood, a distant relative and a native 
of Kentucky. 

,J. W. McCuLLODGH has long been a resident of Champaign County. His 
life's activities have been expressed along different lines, as a successful agri- 
culturist, a merchant, and in his later years, with greater opportunity for 
leisure, he is applying himself to the management, with his son, of a large 
business at Rantoul for the handling of grain, fuel and implements. 

Mr. McCullough is a native of DeWitt County, Illinois, and a son of 
James and Mary Jane (Eusk) McCullough. His parents were born in Ohio 
and in the early days they came to Illinois, crossing the intervening country 
in covered wagons or prairie schooners. They located near Clinton in this 
state and the children attended district school. When J. W. McCullough 
was eleven years of age they came to Champaign County and located on a 
farm six miles southeast of Eantoul in the Kentucky settlement. 

Here Mr. McCullough attended school and at the same time assisted his 
father on the farm. That was his routine of life until twenty-one, and then, 
in November, 1879, he laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage 
to Isella Boys. Mrs. McCullough was born in Ohio, daughter of Jonathan 
and Elizabeth Boys. Her parents came to Illinois and she received most of 
her education in the Prairie Star School in 'Champaign County. This school 
has the reputation of having turned out many successful students, including 
a number of teachers. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McCullough started out as renters, 
and subsequently moved to his father's farm. The young people proved 
themselves possessed of energy and industry and they practiced economy 
until they were able to purchase eighty acres of land. From the farm 
Mr. McCullough eventually removed to tlrbana and engaged in the grocery 
business, but then returned to his farm for three years, and finally located 
at Eantoul, where in connection with farming he began buying stock on an 
extensive scale. He was one of the leading shippers of live stock out of this 
county for a number of years. Subsequently he expanded his operations by 
handling grain, and now owns a large elevator at Eantoul with a capacity 
of 40,000 bushels. Grain to the average of 200,000 bushels per year is mar- 
keted through the medium of Mr. McCullough's enterprise. The passing 
years have brought a steady increase to his land holdings, and in the counties 
of Champaign, Ford and Lee he now owns altogether an estate of 850 acres. 

Mr. McCullough and his fine family live in an attractive residence in 
Eantoul a short distance down the interurban track below the Methodist 
Church. A low stone fence separates the pleasant grounds from the street, 
and behind that fence is every evidence of comfort and liberal hospitality. 
Mr. and Mrs. McCullough have six children : Elsie, Irene, George, Frank, 
John and William. The parents have felt the responsibility of giving these 
children the best of home and school training and all have been educated 
in the high school at Eantoul. 

George, who was also a student in the business college at Champaign, 
is active manager of his father's home farm. He married Miss Vera 



738 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

McCormick and they have two children, George and Ruth. The son Frank, 
who lives in a home adjoining that of his father, is manager with his father 
of the coal, grain and implement business conducted under the name 
McCullough & Son. Frank McCullough married Florence Carlson and they 
have a young daughter, Zella Jeanette, now three years of age. She has 
completely won the hearts of her grandparents. 

Elsie McCullough married Clyde Gifford and they live on a farm four 
miles southeast of Rantoul. 

Mr. and Mrs. McCullough are active members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Politically Mr. McCullough supports the principles of prohibition. 
He is a man broad in his views and believes that the irldividual can exert 
his influence best by supporting principles rather than a party and by exer- 
cising a discriminating choice among candidates for office. Mr. McCullough 
has served as supervisor and as school director and has done all he could to 
raise the standards of local education. Mrs. McCullough is a cultured and 
popular member of local society in Rantoul, and the family as a whole on 
account of their business energy, success and public spirit hold a high place 
in that community. 

WILLIAM HARTFORD, D. 0. The science of osteopathy, which has its 
fundamental principle in the theory that most diseases of humanity are 
traceable to malformation of some part of the skeleton, long since has 
passed the experimental stage and has become a widely recognized and sane 
factor in the alleviation of the suffering of mankind. A capable and 
enthusiastic promoter of this method of cure is found in Dr. William Hart- 
ford of Champaign, who has been engaged in practice here since 1899, and 
whose professional career has been one characterized by remarkably suc- 
cessful results. He is a native of Henderson County, Illinois, and was 
born December 6, 1856, a son of Winfield Scott and Lucetta Rebekah 
(Thomas) Hartford. 

The family history of Dr. Hartford is a decidedly interesting one. 
In 1579 Sir John Hartford, son of Thomas Hartford, was knighted by 
Queen Elizabeth for brave and honorable service rendered in the wars of 
that period, and was given a province, or manor, in southern Scotland. 
While he had been born in Northumberland County, England, after being 
given this manor he settled in Scotland, where the family resided until 
during the persecution of the Church of Scotland by the ruler of England, 
when the younger members of the family were driven into northern Ireland 
and became what is known as Scotch-Irish. About 1730 James and Pat- 
rick Hartford, descendants of Sir John, who were attending college at 
Belfast, Ireland, as students, were enticed aboard one of the vessels lying 
in the harbor one Saturday afternoon, and before they were aware of it 
anchor had been weighed and the vessel had put to sea. They were 
impressed into service as cabin boys and on arising one morning Patrick 
Hartford, finding his brother missing, was informed that his brother had 
fallen overboard, had died after being taken from the water, and had sub- 
sequently been buried at sea. In reality, the brothers had been kidnaped 
to be sold in the New World as bond slaves, a not unusual custom of the 
day, and were only kept apart for that purpose, although Patrick Hartford 
never knew but that his brother was dead, and, in fact, both brothers died 
ignorant of the fact that the other was living. However, the grandchildren 
of each brother met in Henderson County, Illinois, in 1865. In giving 
their family history both told the same story, when William Hartford, 
grandson of Patrick, asked James Hartford, grandson of James, what his 
grandfather's given name was. He was told and was also informed that 
James had been landed at New York, while Patrick had been landed at 
Philadelphia. When the young men became twenty-one years of age they 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 739 

were released from their bondage, after which each married and became a 
citizen of the New World. 

When the French and Indian war broke out, in 1763, Patrick Hartford 
entered the service of the Crown, under Major George Washington of the 
Colonial army, was promoted to the position of exchanging officer, and led 
a company of Colonial soldiers against the siege of Louisburg. In the 
exchange of prisoners on the western frontier, Patrick Hartford came upon 
a number of women and children who had been captured by the savages, 
and negotiated a trade with the Indians whereby he paid one quart of rum 
each for the prisoners, whom he safely conducted back to their families 
and friends in eastern Pennsylvania. In later years he met a young lady 
by the name of Jane McCammant, who had been stolen by the Indians 
when eight or nine years, of age and held prisoner by them for a period of 
three years and nine months, when rescued. She was the daughter of a 
wealthy Scotch-Irish farmer in the Susquehanna Valley. She became his 
wife, and in later years, when they were talking over the exciting incidents 
of their childhood period and he had told her of his having been kidnaped 
and sold as a bond slave, she in return told him of her years spent in Indian 
captivity. When, in a reply to her husband's question, she said that she 
had been exchanged at a Detroit Indian station and gave the time, he 
exclaimed : "Why, you were not exchanged ; I bought you free with a 
quart of rum from the Indians," and so it developed that she was one of 
the party of women and children that he had been called upon to rescue 
when he was exchanging officer for the British army. Nine children were 
born to Patrick and Jane (McCammant) Hartford, Dr. William Hartford 
being descended from the third son, John. 

John Hartford moved to Canada in 1795, when his son William, the 
grandfather of Dr. Hartford, who had been born in Pennsylvania, was 
about six months, old. He resided there until the period of the War of 
1812, when he moved to Muskingum County, Ohio, where 'he spent the 
remainder of his life, passing away January 13, 1833. He married Betsy 
Patterson, whose family was of Scotch-Irish origin. Her father and four 
brothers, William, 'John, Alexander and James, enlisted for service in 
the Revolutionary War and when their terms of service expired re-enlisted, 
all being mustered out with honorable discharges at the close, with the 
exception of one brother, who was killed at the battle of Brandywine. 
This family were Covenanters, or Presbyterian, and Seceders there were 
no atheists, no Universalists or Catholics among them. 

At the close of the Revolutionary War, as a special inducement to 
secure settlers, Canada offered to give to each settler 200 acres of land and 
the privilege of choosing their own Legislature and making their own laws, 
as they were in the United States. A proclamation was issued to this 
effect, and as a result hundreds of poor men flocked into Canada, among 
them being John Hartford, who, as before noted, went there in the summer 
of 1795. He found, however, when he arrived that the laws were already 
made and that in order to secure the land he would be required to take the 
oath of allegiance to the king, this oath being set down by his son as read- 
ing as follows : "You do solemnly swear that you will bear true allegiance 
to King George III, and that you will forever disown and disdain any 
pardon from any foreign power, or dispensation whatever." This oath 
John Hartford refused to take, but bought a tract of a young man by the 
name of Gabriel Evans, who had taken the oath and secured the land, but 
who, in an altercation with a British officer, due to his failure to remove 
his hat when meeting him, had struck the officer (who had first knocked 
his hat off with his sword), and was thus guilty of treason and was com- 
pelled to flee the country. John Hartford bought his place by assuming 
his indebtedness for 1,000 rails which Evans had ordered split. The place 



740 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

consisted of 188 acres, on which Evans had built a cabin and cleared four 
or five acres, and on this John Hartford settled with his family. 

William Hartford remained on this property with his father until 
March, 1812, when he left home to learn the trade of blacksmith. In June 
of the same year the second war with Great Britain was declared, and his 
elder brothers were drafted into the British army. When the war broke out 
the governor-general of Canada ordered all who claimed allegiance to the 
United States to appear upon the Niagara Eiver at Queenstown and 
there they would be sent over to Lewiston on the American side. William 
Hartford, who had returned home, was among those who appeared, but 
the transports were so busy with a great crowd that it made it look as 
though Canada were to be depopulated, and he did not succeed in getting 
across. At this time the battle of Queenstown occurred, in which General 
Brock was killed, and the commander-in-chief of the British fort cancelled 
the order and drafted every man from the age of sixteen to sixty years into 
the British service, ordering them to appear at the parade grounds at 
Terry Berry's cross roads at ten o'clock the next day. William Hartford 
evaded the service through losing his way to the point of meeting, for 
his sympathies were with the United States, where he had been born, but 
eventually he was seized by some British soldiers and taken to head- 
quarters, where he was court-martialed and sentenced to be shot, but 
through the friendly intervention of a British officer, who was a friend of 
his father, was taken with a gang of prisoners to fell some trees to form 
a block house and was put to work by himself in an isolated spot, which 
was the cue for him to make his escape. He did so and arrived home that 
night about midnight, disguised as an Irish "paddy," with a halter on his 
arm as though looking for horses. His father gave him all the silver he 
had in the house, about $2.25, for Canadian bills were' of no use to him in 
the United States, for which country he was heading. After numerous 
thrilling adventures, he finally reached his destination and found his way 
to the home of some relatives on his mother's side in eastern Pennsylvania. 
He was later arrested as a spy, but after satisfying the army of his loyalty 
he was allowed to enlist as a soldier in the War of 1812-14. He fought at 
Lundy's Lane under General Winfield Scott, and was at Fort Mackinac,. 
Michigan, when its inhabitants were massacred by the Indians. With one 
or two others he escaped, and they subsisted on roots and bark and on 
rabbits which they killed with stones until they finally reached Niagara. 
They were never mustered out. William Hartford dared not go back 
into Canada and had no means of communicating with his father for 
three years, when a horse-trader, going up into that country, carried a 
letter from him to his father. He brought back a reply, and the father 
eventually sold his personal property under the hammer for ready cash 
and came to the United States, buying about three hundred tw< acres 
of land eighteen miles north of Zanesville, Ohio, where he sp t the 
rest of his days. William Hartford was married at the age of twenty-five 
years to Eliza James, and they became the parents of ten children, of 
whom Dr. Hartford's father, Winfield Scott, was the second born. 

Winfield Scott Hartford was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, and 
received an ordinary education in the schools that the day and locality 
afforded. He was reared to the pursuits of agriculture and was still 
a young man when, in the fall of 1846, he passed through Champaign 
County and Urbana at a time when there was but a little tavern at that 
point, he being then on his way to Henderson County, Illinois. Doctor 
Hartford has heard his father tell how the land all around Urbana was 
bog land, and of how one could stand and shake the ground under his 
feet. Winfield S. Hartford accumulated land in Henderson County, where 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 741 

he remained for four years engaged in farming, and at the time of selling 
out and leaving had over 400 acres. He returned to Ohio and remained 
that winter, and then prevailed upon his father to sell out his Ohio hold- 
ings and come to the west. William Hartford came through by wagon in 
1852 and his first impressions of the country could not have been very favor- 
able, for on the present site of the Flatiron Building, of Urbana, Cham- 
paign, his teams mired down, so that it took him a whole day to get his 
wagons out of that bog hole. Land values at that time were fifty cents 
an acre here, and it may be that he would have purchased property had 
he known what they would increase to, but instead he pushed on to Hen- 
derson County, where the family made their home for more than twenty 
years. In later years Winfield S. Hartford moved on to Adair County, 
and later to Springfield, Missouri, where his death occurred November 12, 
1900, the mother, Lucetta Rebekah (Thomas) Hartford, a native of 
Cuyahoga County, Ohio, having passed away in Adair County, Missouri, 
November 5, 1867. To their union there were eleven children born: 
Eliza, who is the widow of Robert G. David, and resides at Cana, Kansas; 
Mary A., who is the widow of James Brooks, of Idaho ; Sarah E., who is the 
widow of Alexander McLelland, of Miami, Oklahoma; Justice, who is de- 
ceased; Doctor William, of this review; John T., a resident of Missouri; 
Isaac J., of Manitoba, Canada; Elmira L., who is the wife of H. L. 
Walker, of Idaho; Martha R., who is the wife of Robert E. Bledsoe, of 
Oklahoma; and Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, twins, the 
former deceased and the latter a physician and a resident of Gibson City, 
Illinois. The mother died at the time the twins were born. 

William Hartford remained with his father until he was twenty-one 
years of age, in the meantime receiving such education as the meager 
opportunities of that time afforded. At the time that he reached his 
majority he entered the State Normal School at Kirksville, Missouri, but 
remained at that institution only one semester, then returning home to 
begin teaching his old district school where he had first attended. For 
four years he remained in charge of that school, each year receiving an 
increase in salary as an appreciation of his capable services, and in the 
meantime returned to the normal school during the vacation periods, thus 
improving his own education all the time. He graduated from the 
normal school in 1886, and following this taught in the city school of 
Middle Grove, Missouri, for two years, then being elected county superin- 
tendent of schools for that county in 1888. At the expiration of his 
term he went to Saint Edwards, Nebraska, where he was superintendent of 
city schools for two years, and in 1892 was nominated as county superin- 
tendent of schools for Boone County, Nebraska, but on account of his wife's 
ill health was forced to decline the nomination. He then returned to 
Kirksville, Missouri, where resided an osteopathic physician whom he 
knew and in whom he had the greatest confidence. Physicians in Nebraska 
had given his wife up as incurable, but under the skillful treatment of this 
osteopath, Dr. A. T. Still, she fully recovered her health. 

For some time Doctor Hartford had been carefully watching and 
investigating Doctor Still's methods of practice, and his success in curing 
his wife caused him to fully decide to enter the American School of 
Osteopathy. He made rapid progress and graduated in osteopathy June 22, 
1897, almost immediately thereafter going to Clarinda, Iowa, to practice, 
only to find that there was a state law against it, but while there he made 
several remarkable cures. Subsequently he went to Ogden, Utah, opened 
an office and began professional business, but after thirty days was arrested 
for the practice of osteopathy. He was acquitted at his trial, but within 
fifteen minutes was again arrested, was again acquitted and was arrested 



742 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

for the third time. He stood this trial before the judge of the Circuit 
Court and it lasted from 8 :00 A. M. until 5 :00 P. M. The judge took it 
under advisement for two weeks before making his decision, and during 
those two weeks the case was thrown out of court. It was at the instiga- 
tion of the State Board of Physicians that he was arrested, and after his 
final acquittal Doctor Hartford sued this board for $10,000 damages, but 
the matter was compromised by leaving him to practice in peace thereafter. 

A little later Doctor Hartford returned to Illinois, where he learned a 
law also existed against the practice of osteopathy. Later he went to Iowa 
and was instrumental in securing the passage of a law permitting the 
practice of osteopathy in that and other states, and in 1899 came to Cham- 
paign, Illinois, where he passed the examination of the State Board of 
Health. He opened an office in the annex of the Beardsley Hotel 
January 1, 1900, and remained in that office for three years, at the end of 
which time he removed t6 the Illinois Building. In 1912 he came to his 
present offices, in the First National Bank Building, where he is enjoying 
a large practice. His office is unexcelled in equipment, containing the 
most practical apparatus thus far discovered, as well as the latest periodi- 
cals and books bearing upon the subject which is enlisting his best energy 
and thought. 

Doctor Hartford was married March 26, 1882, to Miss Hattie Sterrett, 
a native of Putnam County, Missouri, and to this union there have been 
born two children. The first, Dr. William Scott Hartford, of Los 
Angeles, California, is a graduate of the Chicago College of Osteopathy 
and Herring Homeopathic College of Chicago. In 1906 he located at 
Urbana, Illinois, where he had a large practice until 1916, and in that 
year disposed of his property interests and went to Los Angeles, California, 
where he is now located at No. 310 Story Building. Naoma Rebekah, the 
only daughter of Doctor and Mrs. Hartford, is a graduate of the Cham- 
paign High School, of the National Park Seminary, Washington, D. C., 
and of the University of Illinois, and for two years before her marriage 
was a teacher in the city schools of Champaign. She is now the wife of 
William L. Ashbeck, of Chicago, Illinois. 

Politically Doctor Hartford is a Republican. His fraternal affiliations 
are with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the Guardians of Liberty, 
and, with the members of his family, he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

FELIX G. CAMPBELL was a thoroughly practical and successful farmer 
before he took up the business of real estate, loans and insurance at Cham- 
paign, and in both lines his success has been noteworthy. He is still a 
farmer through ownership, though no longer a worker in the fields, and 
he now gives all his time to an extensive clientage in real estate and 
insurance. 

Mr. Campbell was born in Preble County, Ohio, November 11, 1848, 
and was four years of age when his parents, John W. and Margaret N. 
(Dooley) Campbell, moved to Peoria, Illinois. His father was a native 
of Kentucky and his mother of Illinois. John W. Campbell spent his 
active career as a farmer, largely in Peoria County, and finally, when he 
and his wife retired, they went to live with their daughter Addie, at that 
time in Burton, Kansas, where both of them died. They were the parents 
of seven children : Mary E., David 0., Charles L., Samuel, all deceased ; 
Addie, wife of William H. Wilson of Wichita, Kansas; Felix G.; and 
George W. of Lincoln, Nebraska. 

Felix G. Campbell grew up on an Illinois farm, attended district 
schools, and remained at home' until he was twenty-four. At that date 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN .COUNTY 743 

he left home and lived on rented farms for about five years, when he 
bought eighty acres of his own and subsequently another eighty acres, 
this 160 acres constituting a very fine improved farm in Peoria County. 
Later Mr. Campbell bought 160 acres in Champaign County. He still 
owns both farms. In 1892 he removed to Champaign and for a quarter 
of a century has been handling real estate, insurance and loans. Mr. 
Campbell is an active Eepublican and a member of the Presbyterian Church. 
On September 4, 1872, he married Miss Alice Gilbert, a native of 
Peoria County. They are the parents of four children: Walter G., 
deceased; Maude, at home; Kalph M., associated with his father in busi- 
ness ; and Leland L. of Champaign. 

CHARLES GORDON. Now enjoying the comforts of a home in Eantoul 
that is one of the best residences of that town, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon are 
able to look back with pardonable pride upon a long and active career spent 
in Champaign County. Mr. Gordon gained his success as a farmer. Indus- 
try, combined with good judgment, gave him a competency many years 
ago, and he is looked upon as one of the large land holders and substantial 
citizens of this section. 

A native of Ireland, he was horn in Wexford County, a son of John 
and Mary (Whalen) Gordon. A year and a half after his birth his 
parents came to America in 1857, and for the first nine years lived in 
Aurora, Illinois. From there they moved to Shabbona Grove in DeKalb 
County, "*and three years later, in 1869, came to Champaign County. 
Charles Gordon was the fourth in a family of five sons and three daughters. 
These children were all educated in the district schools of Compromise 
Township in this county. 

Charles Gordon as he grew to manhood assisted his father on the farm 
and in 1886 he established a home of his own by his marriage to Miss 
Hanora Jackson. Mrs. Gordon was born in Morris, Eipley County, Indiana, 
fifth in a family of five daughters and four sons of John and Anna 
(Molloy) Jackson. She was educated in the high school at Eantoul. 

Having inherited 160 acres of land from his father, Mr. and Mrs. 
Gordon located on that farm in Kerr Township after their marriage and 
put to the test the qualifications they had as industrious and economical 
young people. Their prosperity grew and in time they found themselves 
the possessors of a fine estate of splendid land, 640 acres. Mr. Gordon has 
often succeeded in his agricultural efforts where others have failed, and 
his friends say that he has a genius for making mother earth yield bounti- 
fully to every effort he puts forth. 

In time there came into their home seven children, two sons and five 
daughters: John F., Joseph A., Alice M., Theresa M., Clara A., Rose A. 
and Nona M. From the first Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were ambitious that 
their children should have the best of educational opportunities. They 
first attended the Gordon district schools. Alice and Theresa were students 
in the St. Mary of the Woods at Terre Haute, which is one of the finest 
schools of culture and training in the Middle West. Theresa graduated 
with honors from that institution. John F. studied three years in St. 
Viator's College at Kankakee. Joseph Gordon began his higher studies 
in St. Bede's College at Peru, Illinois, and graduated from the college 
course at St. Viator's, and spent four years in St. Paul's Seminary at St. 
Paul, Minnesota. On finishing his philosophical and theological studies he 
was ordained a priest at Peoria, June 17, 1916, by Bishop Edmund Dunne. 
He was then appointed assistant pastor of St. Mark's Parish in Peoria 
under Father Burke. He has distinguished himself as a studious and con- 
secrated young priest and has a large circle of friends. Clara and Eose 



744 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

became students in the Villa de Chantal College of Eock Island and Clara 
graduated with the class of 1914. This class contained ten graduates. The 
daughter Nona is now a student in the Donovan Memorial School at Ran- 
toul. Thus Mr. and Mrs. Gordon have largely succeeded in their task of 
educating their children and of preparing them for true and useful citi- 
zenship. Alice M. Gordon married Francis J. Klein, and they reside on 
part of the Gordon estate. 

The Gordon family are active members of St. Malachi's Catholic 
Church at Rantoul. For twenty-seven years Mr. Gordon served as treas- 
urer of his home school district and that old school has taken the name of 
the family and is now known as the Gordon School, the land having been 
donated by Mr. Gordon for school purposes. 

In February, 1916, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon gave up the active responsi- 
bilities of managing their extensive landed property, and removing to Ran- 
toul, built a fine residence at the corner of Belle Avenue and High Street. 
Here they have every comfort and convenience, and are also in close touch 
with their large circle of friends. Their son John F. Gordon has now 
assumed the chief responsibilities of managing the homestead farm in 
Kerr Township. He married Emma McEvelly of Minooka, Illinois. They 
have a young daughter four years old named Vivian Gordon. 

JOHN C. KEUSE is one of Champaign's oldest business men in point of 
continuous service, having lived in that city for almost half a century. He 
has been an independent merchant for over forty-five years, and he has 
wisely looked after and directed the business training of his sons and 
assisted each one to get established in business. 

Mr. Kruse is a native of Germany, where he was born July 23, 1840, 
son of John 0. and Minnie (Martens) Kruse. His parents spent all their 
lives in Germany. John C. Kruse had that substantial training afforded 
by the public school system of Germany. His father intended that he 
should go to a seminary and qualify for the profession of teacher. His 
father was a cabinetmaker, and before the plan had been carried out with 
respect to the son's education he became so deaf that his son had to leave 
school and take charge of the business. 

Thus when Mr. Kruse came to the United States in 1867 he had mas- 
tered a trade and had considerable business experience. He first located 
in Cleveland, Ohio, but after a year there moved to Champaign, Illinois. 
Being an expert workman, he found employment in the furniture factory 
of Walker Brothers, with whom he remained four years. Out of his modest 
savings he then engaged in a business for himself and has been one of the 
leading furniture dealers and undertakers in Champaign for so many 
years that few residents of the city can recollect when the name of John C. 
Kruse was not in the business directory. In politics Mr. Kruse has main- 
tained an independent attitude for a number of years. Fraternally he is 
affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern 
Woodmen of America. 

On December 6, 1869, he married Miss Doris Busch. Nine children 
have been born to their union : Minnie and Otto, both deceased ; Valde- 
mar, in the furniture business at Champaign ; Emil, deceased ; Paul, in 
the electrical business at Champaign; Edgar, in the automobile business 
there; Carl, an electrician; Robert, deceased; and Albert, associated with 
his father in the furniture business. Each of these sons remained with 
their father until twenty-one years of age, receiving no pay except board 
and keep. On reaching manhood the father started each one in a separate 
business for himself, though retaining some financial interest in the ven- 
ture. It was a splendid way to do and the results have well justified the 
plan. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 745 

ENGWARD BENGTSON. While good Americans today find it entirely 
unnecessary to refer to other countries in order to establish honorable 
standing, it is but natural that a kind feeling should ever be preserved for 
the land of one's ancestors, and especially may this be the case when 
attention can be centered on Sweden. That country has contributed nobly 
to. the good citizenship of America, and in every part of the United 
States may be found men of Swedish extraction who have proved their 
dependable qualities. They are found in Champaign County among the 
representative citizens and progressive farmers. Here the Bengtson and 
Gilburg names have been held in the highest regard for very many years. 

Bngward Bengtson, one of the large farmers and successful cattle grow- 
ers of Champaign County, was born in Ford County, Illinois, and is a 
son of Charles and Clara Bengtson. They were born in Sweden and 
came early to -Illinois. They endured many hardships, as did all the 
early settlers, but they acquired property through their perseverance and 
industry and the father still lives to enjoy the comfortable surroundings 
which seem to be the rightful accompaniments of age. About 1900 they 
removed from their farm of 245 acres, situated in Harwood Township, 
to Paxton, Illinois, where the beloved mother passed away April 15, 1917, 
attended carefully, tenderly and scientifically by their daughter, Tillie 
Bengtson, who is a graduate nurse of Wesley Hospital, Chicago. She 
still maintains a home at Paxton to care for her venerable father. To 
Charles Bengtson and wife the following children were born: Alfred, 
George (who died December 3, 1916), Engward, Tillie and Carl. 

Engward Bengtson attended the publiq schools and was a student in 
the Ludlow High School. He gave his father assistance on the farm, as 
was natural and proper, taking a deep interest in all the industries and 
advocating improvements when he found them desirable. When his parents 
left the farm and moved to Paxton he and his brother George took entire 
charge and Tillie became the housekeeper. The death of his brother and 
his own marriage made some change in the domestic arrangements, but he 
has continued to operate the land and has been exceedingly successful in 
this undertaking. Under his management the Bengtson farm has retained 
its old reputation for fine cattle, and perhaps no finer herds of Durham can 
be found in the county. He has had a continuous record for large yields, 
particularly in corn and oats, eighty bushels to the acre not being unusual 
in corn, and in 1915 he harvested 5,340 bushels of oats. He keeps well 
posted on agricultural matters and is not afraid of new ventures and has 
met with some success in his experiments with alfalfa. Although he has 
met with a gratifying amount of prosperity in his agricultural industries 
in Champaign County, as a good business man he thought it desirable to 
look over some other agricultural sections arid in 1907 spent some time in 
the vicinity of Spokane Falls, Washington. It resulted in his contented 
return to Champaign County, firm in the opinion that this is, indeed, the 
garden spot of the world, a section that cannot be surpassed for rich 
farming land, equable climate and good neighbors. 

In 1912 Mr. Bengtson was married to Miss Sylvia Gilburg, who was 
born in Benton County, Indiana, and is a daughter of Carl Oscar and 
Louise (Anderson) Gilburg, both of whom came early to Indiana and 
were married at Attica. They had the following children : Sylvia, Lena, 
George, Emma and John, all of whom were educated in the public schools 
of Fowler, Indiana. Even before the marriage of the son and daughter, 
the Bengtson and Gilburg families were very friendly and frequently visited 
each other. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bengtson settled on the 
old Bengtson homestead and have resided here ever since. They have one 
son, Edward Charles Bengtson, a handsome, sturdy little fellow of whom 



746 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUXTY 

parents and grandparents are justly proud. Mr. and Mrs. Bengtson attend 
^he Swedish Mission Church at Paxton, Illinois. In politics Mr. Bengtson- 
is a Democrat and a great admirer of President Woodrow Wilson, believing 
that he is the providentially selected man of the hour for the great responsi- 
bilities now resting upon him. 

CHARLES B. WIGGINS. So indispensable has the automobile become to 
modern life that one is led to marvel that such great progress in manu- 
facture and use could have been made in comparatively so short a time. 
Although the idea of self-propelled vehicles was entertained and to some 
extent proved possible long before 1886, when the first horseless carriage 
as a practical conveyance appeared on the boulevards of Paris, France, it 
presented so many impossible features that for years the venture was not 
regarded as feasible. When other motive power than steam became known 
to the industries, it required only the application of inventive minds to 
evolve the automobile, a rather crude affair even in the summer of 1898, 
when in the entire United States there were only eighty of these new 
vehicles. In comparison with the present the record is astounding, not 
only in the volume of automobile output, but in the improvements that 
each year adds to the utility, beauty, use and comfort of this wonderful 
invention. With the increased use of the automobile dawned a new pros- 
perity in every land, business methods have been revolutionized, agriculture 
is carried on along new lines, social life has been pleasantly stimulated 
and even war is prosecuted with unheard of vigor because of automobile 
inventions. Thousands of far-seeing business men find profit in handling 
one or another of the special type of cars, and along this line an immense 
business is being transacted at Champaign by Charles B. Wiggins, who is 
the local agent for the well known Cadillac cars. 

Although numbered with Champaign's most representative and solid 
business men, Charles B. Wiggins is not a native of Illinois. He was 
born near Circleville, Ohio, January 16, 1872. His parents are Henry J. 
and Eosalie (Eggleston) Wiggins, both of whom were born in Ohio. They 
now reside at Homer, in Champaign County, Illinois, where the father is 
engaged in a banking business. Three sons made up the family : Perley, 
who is associated with his father in the bank; Charles B., who belongs to 
Champaign; and Henry, who is deceased. 

Completing his public school course by the age of sixteen years, 
Charles B. Wiggins for a time was connected with his father's bank. Later 
he went to the Arkansas Valley in Colorado, and near Rocky Ford bought 
a large farm and went into the business of raising sugar beets, an industry 
he continued for four years, and then took advantage of an excellent offer 
and sold out. He returned then to Illinois and re-entered his father's 
banking establishment and in the course of time became vice president of 
the bank and continued in the financial field until 1912, when he sold 'his 
interest and came then to Champaign. 

In coming to this city Mr. Wiggins had a very definite plan in view and 
immediately set about putting it into execution. He immediately invested 
in valuable vacant property, on which he erected one of the finest business 
structures in this city, a four-story fireproof building which has a frontage 
of forty-six feet on Hickory Street and forty-six feet on Neil Street, with a 
depth of 100 feet. The entire building is devoted to the exhibition of the 
Cadillac cars. Out of the numberless makes of automobiles, each with 
special claims to attention, Mr. Wiggins selected the Cadillac, assuring 
himself first concerning the superiority which he has no difficulty in 
impressing on buyers when they view and investigate the merits of the 
magnificent display of cars provided in such an admirable setting by 
Mr. Wiggins. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 747 

On September 16, 1901, Mr. Wiggins was united in marriage with 
Miss Daisy Morrison, who is a daughter of Elisha A. Morrison, a well 
known resident of Homer, Illinois, and one daughter was born to them, 
Marion, who did not survive infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Wiggins are members 
'of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mrs. Wiggins taking an active part 
in the benevolent work for which this religious body is notable. 

Not only is Mr. Wiggins an alert and progressive business man, but 
is active also in all that pertains to public affairs, especially in his own 
city, and, elected on the Republican ticket, he effectively served as alder- 
man of the Sixth Ward until May, 1917, when a commission form of gov- 
ernment was adopted. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons and 
the Elks. 

THOMAS B. WELLES, whose fine country home is in section 7 of Com- 
promise Township, in the Penfield community, has gained an enviable 
position among the progressive and successful farmer citizens of Cham- 
paign County. The passing years have brought him a large degree of 
that material prosperity which is characteristic of this rich section of Illi- 
nois, the esteem of the community has increased in proportion to the 
length of his residence, and his fellow citizens have come to rely upon 
him as a leader in many of those movements which mark the enlightened 
progress of any locality. 

Mr. Welles was born in Compromise Township and is a son of J. H. ; 
and Ann Sarah (Jones) Welles. His father was born in Connecticut 
and his mother in the State of Maine. They were industrious and thrifty 
people of Yankee stock, and were pioneers in Champaign County, moving 
here from Ohio in 1863. When they first located in Compromise Town- 
ship all the surrounding country was a bare prairie and only four houses 
could be seen between their home and Rantoul. They had the character- 
istics of the real pioneers, and in the course of time they had their land 
under the plow, commodious buildings erected, many fruit and shade 
trees set out and much of their effort is represented in the present value 
and attractiveness of the old homestead. 

Thomas B. Welles was the youngest in a family of eight children, two 
sons and six daughters. He grew up on the home farm, and secured his 
education from the nearby country schools. He gained a home of his 
own by his marriage to Miss Emma McHenry. Mrs. Welles was born in 
Vermilion County, Illinois, daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Watson) 
McHenry. Mrs. Welles was also well educated in the local schools. After 
their marriage they located on the old Welles homestead, and with 160 
acres under his management Mr. Welles has made more than a comfortable 
living for himself and family and his farm shows the evidences of expert 
stiidy and handling. For a number of years he has been noted among the 
breeders and raisers of Percheron horses in this county. 

Mr. and Mrs. Welles are the parents of six children : T. Maxwell, 
Ralph J., Marian Frances, Margaret Alice, Helen Louise and Kate Eliza- 
beth. 

It has been Mr. Welles' desire to give his own children good educations, 
and with this object in view he has striven to raise the standards of the 
local schools and has served as a member of the board of directors. In 
politics he follows the example of his honored father and is a Republican. 
Mrs. Welles is a member of the Christian Church, but all the family attend 
the Methodist Episcopal Church at Penfield, where the children are in the 
Sunday school. Thus Mr. and Mrs. Welles with their family live on an 
old homestead which has a host of associations centering around the name 
and there they enjoy the good things of life and the years that are past 
are as grateful in recollection as the future is bright before them. 



748 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

JOHN FREDERIC HESSEL. There are many avenues of honorable busi- 
ness open to men of education, initiative and talent, and it is a claim 
proudly made by the great University of Illinois that from her halls go 
out graduates thoroughly prepared for any career. Many of these young 
men of the thousands who have hopefully crossed her doorsill undoubtedly 
have proved the truth of this claim, and many have settled down under 
her walls, as it were, and through their achievements have reflected credit 
on their alma m#ter. In this connection may be mentioned a prominent 
business man of Champaign, John Frederic Hessel, who is a worthy repre- 
sentative of one of the sterling old pioneer families of Champaign County. 

John Frederic Hessel was born at Champaign, Illinois, September 18, 
1866. His parents were Gustavus Edward and Mary (Davorn-Dixon) 
Hessel, the latter of whom survives. She was born in Dublin, Ireland, 
of Irish and Scotch parentage, on April 4, 1841. In 1856 she was married 
to Gustavus Edward Hessel at Brooklyn, New York, and five children were 
born to them, of whom John Frederic is the only survivor. The others, 
who bore the names of Frank L., Cora Mae and Emma H., all died of 
scarlet fever on April 24, 1878, aged respectively six, ten and fourteen 
years. This heart-breaking domestic affliction was one that from lack of 
medical knowledge at the time was repeated in many a bereaved home. 

Gustavus Edward Hessel was born at Freiburg, in the province of 
Saxony, Germany, October 6, 1836, and died in Illinois, August 10, 1881. 
His father, Frederick Hessel, owned vineyards and followed an agricul- 
tural life. Gustavus Edward came to the United States at the age of 
sixteen years and he found employment on a farm in the northern part 
of Champaign County. He found but little time to attend the public 
schools, but studied at night and found teachers to help him, and in that 
way acquired a fair knowledge of the English language. In 1855 he began 
the business of manufacturing harness and saddles at Champaign, then 
known as West Urbana, and through his industry, enterprise and good 
judgment developed a large concern that was known $11 over central Illi- 
nois. He was an active member of the Republican party in the county 
and always gave support to worthy movements of all kinds. He was one 
of the early members of the Order of Odd Fellows in this section and was a 
devout and generous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

John Frederic Hessel attended the public schools and completed his 
education with two years in the University of Illinois, soon afterward 
embarking in the land and loan business, in which he has been interested 
ever since. He operates quite extensively in Northwestern lands and main- 
tains offices at Champaign. At present he has a project of great 
public value in view, it being concerned with connecting the University 
of Illinois with the city of Champaign by means of a boulevard system 
and a high grade residential district. If this plan or another he may find 
more workable, should be successfully carried through, Mr. Hessel will have 
done a great thing for Champaign, for it would bring numberless benefits 
in its train. 

While Mr. Hessel has never been particularly active in politics, he has 
felt a citizen's responsibility at all times. He is a Republican. In fra- 
ternal life he is identified with the Elks and the Knights of Pythias, and a 
wide acquaintance has given him many agreeable social connections. 

WILLIAM KEAL. While Champaign County has long been noted for its 
material riches and its magnificent assets as an agricultural district, its 
real wealth consists in its men and women, its families and homos, their 
standards of comfort and civic and domestic virtues, and in those associa- 
tions which afford color to the material background of existence. 

Of those families that have longest been identified with the county 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 749 

that represented by William Keal, a resident of Eantoul Township, has 
more than ordinary interest. 

Mr. Keal was born in Prussia, Germany, and was seven years of age 
when he accompanied his parents to America. He is a son of Frederick 
and Louisa (Dahms) Keal. Altogether there were eight children, four 
born in America and four in Germany. Frederick and Louisa Keal pos- 
sessed the substantial German characteristics of ambition and thrift. To 
better their fortunes they determined to come to America. After landing 
in New York they proceeded directly to Champaign County, Illinois, where 
Frederick Keal had two sisters living, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Seams. For 
several years they lived at Champaign and worked largely as wage earners. 
Frederick Keal at one time farmed a portion of the land now included 
in the university farm. By the strictest attention to duty and by many 
sacrifices they were finally able to buy forty acres seven miles southeast of 
Eantoul. Mrs. Keal possessed energy and industry to as great a degree 
as her husband. In those early days Champaign County was noted for 
its production of broom corn. Mrs. Keal with other women did the heavy 
work involved in sorting the broom corn. The industry of herself and 
husband had its reward. After buying their first home they were able 
from time to time to add to their landed estate until they eventually 
owned 100 acres of as fine land as can be found anywhere in Illinois. 

The names of their children were: Frederick C., deceased; William; 
Mrs. Sophia Wallen ; Charles G. ; Minnie ; Louisa ; Anna ; and Lilly. The 
two last are now deceased. Lilly was Mrs. Tibbets, and she died in 
Urbana. All these children were educated in the district school at Maple 
Grove. 

Mr. William Keal also attended school in the East Side High School 
at Champaign. His early experiences were as a farmer, and he had reached 
the age of twenty-three when, on December 25, Christmas Day, 1878, he 
laid the foundation of his own home and fortune by his union with Miss 
Frances M. Harris. She is a daughter of Marvin B. and Melissa Harris, 
the former a native of New York and the latter of Indiana. Marvin B: 
Harris moved from New York to the vicinity of Honey Creek, Indiana. 
The Harrises were of Scotch-Irish descent. In the family were three chil- 
dren, William, Albert and Frances. All were born at Honey Creek, 
Indiana, and for a number of years' they had their home south of Terre 
Haute. Then the death angel came and took away the mother and after 
her death Frances Harris spent three years with her uncle, John S. Brook- 
bank, who is still living at the age of ninety. Mr. Brookbank moved 
from Indiana to McDonough County, Illinois, thence to Warren County 
and finally to Champaign County. Eventually Frances returned to 
Indiana to live with her father, who had married again. Mrs. Keal's 
father served gallantly as a soldier in the Civil War. At the close of the 
war he returned home and married, in order that he might furnish his 
daughter a home. Later Frances returned to Champaign County and 
kept house for her two brothers on a farm until her marriage to Mr. Keal. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Keal began in Eantoul Township 
on a rented farm. In order to see more of the country they subsequently 
took a trip to Iowa, but their investigations proved to them that no country 
was quite so satisfactory as Champaign County. Eeturning, they bought 
eighty acres in Eantoul Township, and with that strict application, energy 
and good management which are the fundamentals of success as farmers 
they increased their prosperity from year to year. At the present time 
Mr. and Mrs. Keal have an estate of 280 acres, including some of the 
richest and most productive land of Champaign County. 

Into their home were born four children: Eose B., Thomas A., 

215 



750 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Charles W. and John Harold. These children were all given the advan- 
tages of the local district school and subsequently the high school at Ran- 
toul. Rosa B. Keal married Arthur Hadler, a farmer whose home is 
five miles west of Rantoul. Their three children are named William Har- 
ris, Henry Kenneth and Frances Caroline. Charles W. Keal married 
Stella Tweedy, and they live on a farm south of Rantoul. John Harold 
Keal married Cecil Cornelia Baker on May 29, 1917. They are living 
at the Keal homestead. Thomas is still at home with his parents. 

Politically Mr. Keal has come to prefer the man to the party and is 
exceedingly broad' minded in his attitude and views of public questions. 
He believes that the honors of politics should go as a reward for real 
service and that only the men of tested honesty and ability should be pre- 
ferred for public positions. Mr. Keal is also a strong prohibitionist and 
looks forward to the time in the not far distant future when the state 
and nation will be irrevocably committed to the prohibition of the liquor 
traffic. 

Mr. and Mrs. Keal and their children all attend the Christian Church. 
Mr. Keal was for many years an elder in the church. His community 
has bestowed upon him many marks of esteem and confidence, and for a 
number of years he served as a member of the school board and has done 
all he could to secure the best advantages not only for his own children 
but for those of his neighbors. Fraternally he is affiliated with the 
Modern Woodmen of America. They come in close touch with the social 
life of Rantoul, and their home is a place of unbounded hospitality for 
their friends both in the country and in the town. Mr. and Mrs. Keal 
reside on one of the fine places in the splendid agricultural district two 
miles south of Rantoul. 

Before closing some mention should be made of a souvenir possessed 
by Mrs. Keal, which has some historic interest. It is a letter written 
from her great-grandmother to her grandparents. It was written at that 
picturesque spot of Lewiston in Niagara County, New York, and was 
dated January 26, 1828. The letter was written and was folded according 
to the old custom, without envelope, was sealed with sealing wax, and the 
rate of postage stamped upon it was 25 cents. 

DAVID H. COFFMAN is one of the older residents of Champaign 
County, went from this district to serve in the Union Army during the 
Civil War, and has turned his hand with credit and success to many under- 
takings, from farming to commercial lines. Mr. Coffman is now an 
honored retired resident of the city of Champaign, where in 1909 he built 
a substantial two-story home at 606 West Hill Street. 

He was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, October 1, 1840, a son of 
Noah B. and Elizabeth (Lamb) Coffman. His parents were also natives 
of Fairfield County and in 1859 brought their family to Champaign 
County, Illinois. Their home was a farm three miles north of the city 
of Champaign. Noah Coffman proved himself a successful farmer and 
stock raiser and continued to live in Champaign County until his death 
in January, 1864. The mother is also deceased. They had nine children: 
William H., of Champaign; Aaron F., deceased; Mary C., of Champaign; 
David H. ; Lucinda Frances, deceased; Peter J., deceased; Samuel C., 
living in Iowa; Thomas D., of Oakland, California; and Sarah Elizabeth, 
deceased. 

David H. Coffman was nineteen years of age when the family removed 
to Champaign County. His early educational advantages were those of 
the public schools of Ohio. He remained a practical assistant to his 
father on the farm until September, 1861. Already the war had broken 





C/7 r \^Y2^uu^/ 

6w 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 751 

out and was raging in unlimited fury when he answered the call of patriot- 
ism and enlisted in Company I of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry. He was 
with that gallant regiment, whose record is so well known, for two and a,' 
half years. It was a hard service, and he was finally disabled and spent 
considerable time in a hospital at Little Rock, Arkansas. He was sent 
home on a sick furlough, and was discharged at Springfield, Illinois. 

The war over, he resumed the quiet lines of civil affairs as a farmer on 
the homestead for about three years. He then bought a hundred and 
seventy acres near Savoy, kept it about a year, then sold out and farmed 
another year near Champaign. For three years Mr. Coffman lived in 
Springfield, Missouri, employed by the Missouri Pacific Railway as sta- 
tionary engineer. He resigned that position to return to Champaign 
County, and at Bondville became associated with his brother in the grocery, 
grain and general merchandise business for three years. 

For another period of about three years Mr.. Coffman was in the monu- 
ment business, and for one year was with C. W. Clark dealing in monu- 
ments, with their headquarters at Urbana. Mr. Coffman then took up the 
building and contracting business, which he followed for three years. He 
has always owned a farm during this period, and about that time he put 
his son in charge on the farm. The son remained on the property one 
year, and then both father and son began selling implements for the 
International Harvester Company. He finally closed out his business 
affairs and now gives his time only to looking after his home and invest- 
ments. Mr. Coffman has been a regular supporter of the Republican 
party for a great many years. He is affiliated with the Grand Army of the 
Republic and the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

On December 28, 1876, Mr. Coffman married Sarah E. Ruhl, daughter 
of A. G. and Barbara (Vanderau) Ruhl, both of whom were natives of 
Germany. Her father came to America at the age of three years, the 
family locating near Marysville, Ohio. Later they went to Rockford, 
Illinois, and in 1857 established a home in Champaign County. He lived 
on a farm in Hensley Township, but about five years before his death re- 
moved to Bondville, where he lived retired. The children of the Ruhl 
family were: William, a resident of Kansas; Mary, deceased; Mrs. Coff- 
man; Emma, deceased; Carrie, wife of Newton Taylor; Charles, deceased; 
John, of Mahomet; Martha, wife of Charles Pfiester, of Bondville; Lulu, 
wife of William McBride, of Iowa; Elizabeth, deceased; and Maud, wife 
of Robert Hill, of Cincinnati. 

Mr. and Mrs. Coffman have one child, Harry A., who is a capable 
young man of varied experience and attainments, and he was born 
May 30, 1879. He continued his educational training in the district 
schools of Condit Township until he reached the age of fourteen, and then 
entered the grade schools of Champaign. He was also a student in the 
high school of Champaign, and then entered the University of Illinois and 
graduated from the law department of that institution in 1901. For one 
year after leaving the University he was engaged in farming, and then 
formed a partnership with his father in the implement business, that rela- 
tionship continuing for three years. Mr. Coffman then accepted a posi- 
tion with the Luthy Manufacturing Company, and later became sales 
manager for the Hart Grain Weigher Company. He has remained with 
this company to the present time, and is now filling the office of secretary 
and general sales manager. 

Harry A. Coffman married Jessie Trotter, of Champaign, a daughter 
of Jefferson and Eliza Trotter, also of this city, and they have become the 
parents of three children: Frances, Harriet and David, the latter having 
been named in honor of his grandfather, David H. Coffman. Mr. and 



752 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mrs. Coffman are members of the Congregational Church, and he has 
fraternal relations with the Masonic order, in which he has attained the 
Thirty-second degree. He is held in the highest regard both in business 
and social circles. 

WOLF LEWIS. The modern merchant is the man who knows what the 
people want and supplies the best facilities for meeting those wants. He 
acts on that solid commercial principle that real success is only a return 
for an adequate service rendered. Of Champaign merchants of this class 
there is no more conspicuous example than Wolf Lewis, whose department 
store in the large Illinois Building means to Champaign County about 
what the Marshall Field store means to the shopping public of Chicago. 
Mr. Lewis is a merchant almost by birthright, but has profited by a long 
and thorough experience and has been tested by the fire of adversity as 
well as by the stimulus of prosperity. Along with success in his private 
business ventures, he has combined a public spirit which has made him a 
factor in civic improvement and municipal betterment. He is looked upon 
as a man of the finest character and useful influence. 

Mr. Lewis is a native of Poland, where he was born May 15, 1858, a son 
of Reuben and Eva (Lewis) Lewis, both natives of Poland. The mother died 
in Poland when her son Wolf was a very small child. Reuben Lewis then 
immigrated to the United States, located at Troy, New York, and engaged 
in the wholesale dry goods business. He had left his six children behind 
him in Poland, and did not send for them until he was well located in 
the New World. He spent the rest of his life as a successful business man 
at Troy, New York, where he died. His children were : George, now a 
resident of Chicago; Himan, deceased; Dora, widow of I. Schiller of 
Troy, New York; Wolf; Rosa, wife of Mr. Rosenthal of New York City; 
Samuel, a resident of Chicago. 

Brought to this country when a small boy, Wolf Lewis grew up in 
Troy, New York, and acquired his early educational advantages there. 
The first thing to attract him away from home surroundings was the Cen- 
tennial Exposition at Philadelphia, in the year 1876. He spent a time 
at the exposition, and also came to know something of New York City 
during that year. He then returned to Troy, acquired some additional 
business training, and in 1879 went West to Chicago. Subsequently he 
and his brother George established a merchandise business at Marinette, 
Wisconsin, and he soon took over the store himself, while George returned 
to Chicago. 

In 1897 Mr. Lewis sold his holdings in northern Wisconsin and removed 
to Champaign. Here he opened a stock of general merchandise in the old 
Odd Fellows Building, but subsequently removed to a new building, which 
was later destroyed by fire, and he and its other occupants suffered complete 
loss of their business. Not at all disheartened, Mr. Lewis opened another 
store in temporary quarters, and when the Illinois Building was com- 
pleted he took a lease on the basement, first and second floors and a part 
of the third floor. The Illinois Building is in the heart of the shopping 
district of Champaign, and its tenants are all high class business concerns. 
Mr. Lewis has rapidly built up a department store enterprise that is one of 
the largest and most successful in Illinois. 

Mr. Lewis is a Republican in politics. He is affiliated with the lodge 
of Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member 
of the Jewish Synagogue of Champaign and a member of the Champaign 
Country Club. 

Mr. Lewis married for his first wife Lena Ruler. At her death she 
left one son, Leonard D., who is now treasurer of his father's company. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 753 

Mr. Lewis married for his second wife Eay Ruler, sister of his first wife. 
They have two sons, Herman, secretary of the W. Lewis Company, and 
Roy, who is now located in Chicago. 

C. 0. NELSON. A thriftier body of citizens the United States has 
obtained from no one country than from Sweden. While representatives 
of that land are not so numerous in Champaign County as in other sec- 
tions of Illinois, to at least one family, that of C. 0. Nelson, the county 
owes a tribute for what it has accomplished in the years that have passed. 
Mr. Nelson and his wife came .to this county many years ago and began 
work on a tract of raw prairie land. Their possessions have increased and 
they now enjoy the comforts of one of the most beautiful country homes 
in the entire county. 

Mr. Nelson was born in Lockneve, Province of Kelmar, Sweden, a son 
of Nels Magnus and Annie Marie. He grew up in his native land, and 
in 1872 married Miss Charlotte Nelson, who was born in the same 
province in Sweden. 

For their wedding journey they crossed the ocean to America, landing 
in New York and going on to Paxton, Illinois, where they had friends 
and relatives from the old country. Here they started out to make a 
home and living, and for two years lived in Ford County, where Mr. Nelson 
worked at regular wages. While he and his wife did the duties that lay 
nearest them, they were also seeking a long look ahead and were making 
their present efforts conform to their future prospects. In time by econ- 
omy they had accumulated enough to enable them to purchase forty acres 
of land in section 8 of Champaign County. For this land they paid $27 
an acre. It was not a large farm, and the land had been little developed. 
It was prairie soil, and part of it was covered every year by water. They 
had a small house and a small barn. In those humble surroundings may 
be found the beginning of their present generous prosperity. 

Mr. and Mrs. Nelson moved to that farm in Champaign County in 
1881, and since then year after year has seen some increase in their hold- 
ings. They subsequently paid $3,000 for eighty acres, and. then bought 
160 acres at a price of $10,000. They now own 360 acres of as fine land 
as can be found in the entire county. 

In the meantime three children were born to them, Alfred Gustav, Carl 
Oscar and Hulda Marie. To these children Mr. and Mrs. Nelson gave the 
best possible educational advantages, at first in the district school of 
Maple Grove, while Alfred attended school at Gibson. 

Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are active members of the Lutheran Church at 
Farmersville, and had their children baptised and confirmed in the same 
church. Politically Mr. Nelson is a stanch Republican. While they have 
endured the usual privations and vicissitudes of early settlers, their later 
prosperity tastes all the sweeter for what they went through to acquire it. 
In 1915 Mr. Nelson erected one of the most beautiful country homes in 
Champaign County. It is a ten-room modern residence, located four and 
three-quarter miles west of Ludlow, on Rural Route No. 30. Many city 
homes have not the complete facilities of this place. It has a water 
system operated by compression tank in the basement and with gasoline 
power. There is hot and cold, soft and hard water, and bathroom, and 
Mr. Nelson is now planning the installation of an independent electric 
light plant. The home is heated by a hot air furnace. 

Mr. Nelson is a true type of the American citizen, and Mrs. Nelson 
is a fine example of the American mother. They came to this country 
empty handed", though with big and courageous hearts and with all the 
energy and courage required for success. Thus they may with pardonable 



754 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

pride look back over the past. Mr. Nelson has demonstrated what a man 
can do by earnest, honest and efficient energy. Such a career commands 
the admiration of all who appreciate the value of the good, sound ele- 
ments of life. America's most substantial citizens are made up of such 
people as Mr. and Mrs. Nelson. They have won prosperity for themselves, 
and in so doing have contributed something to the task which the world 
has to perform. As a farmer Mr. Nelson has distinguished himself by an 
ability to make mother earth respond with bountiful prodigality to his 
touch, and his ability and achievements in this direction are known and 
admired all over Champaign County. In the parlor of the home of these 
worthy people hang two paintings, showing the king and queen of Sweden, 
King Oscar and Queen Sophia. While Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have pleasant 
memories of their youth in Sweden, they have never had a desire to give 
up America. and all this country means to them for the sake of returning 
to Sweden. 

GEORGE NEWTON CUNNINGHAM. No one family name has been so long 
identified with the drug business in Champaign County as that of Cunning- 
ham. In almost pioneer times, in 1854, Albert Palmer Cunningham came 
West to Champaign County and located at Urbana, where he found employ- 
ment in a bank and was later engaged in the drug business. He had a 
practical but no technical knowledge of pharmacy and he had a very suc- 
cessful establishment at Urbana for many years. In 1880 he removed his 
store to Champaign, and the business has been carried on by him or his 
sons in that city for over thirty-five years. 

Albert Palmer Cunningham was born in New York State August 11, 
1832, and died at Champaign October 12, 1893. He married Ophelia Jane 
Segar, who was born in Huron County, Ohio, May 26, 1835, and died 
June 23, 1896. Albert P. Cunningham was a man of note in Champaign 
County and at one time served as mayor of Urbana. He was a brother of 
Judge J. 0. Cunningham. Albert Cunningham also was a gallant soldier 
in the Civil War, serving with Company G of the Seventy-sixth Illinois 
Infantry. He was mustered out as lieutenant of his company. 

Albert P. Cunningham and wife had seven children : Frank, Addie 
and Herbert, all now deceased; Elmer S., born February 10, 1865, and a 
resident of Indianapolis; George N. ; Clara B., born August 25, 1869, now 
wife of C. S. Bouton of Springdale, Arkansas; and Edwin Ealph, born 
July 29, 1873, and associated with his brother, George N., in the drug 
business at Champaign. 

George Newton Cunningham, who became associated in the drug busi- 
ness with his father and has since continued the enterprise on a larger 
scale, was born at Urbana, Illinois, December 24, 1867. For three years 
he had the advantages of the University of Illinois and is thoroughly well 
educated. In 1888, at the age of twenty-one, he entered his father's store 
as a partner, under the firm name of A. P. Cunningham & Son. This title 
was continued until his father's death. Later his brother, Edwin Ealph, 
entered the business and together they have been able to broaden trade 
and build up a business which is now one of the most important in the 
city. The store had always handled sundries and stationery, but they 
made the stationery business something of a special department and also 
handled school books and school supplies. In 1916 they built a branch 
store at the corner of Wright and Green streets, near the university 
grounds. Thus they have made the trade of the university accessible. At 
that location they built a two-story modern brick building 60x132 feet, 
and besides their other business they established there the Tllini Bank, of 
which George N. Cunningham is president and his brother manager. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 755 

Besides a general stock of stationery they carry magazines, current litera- 
ture and a complete line of text books used in the university. 

George N. Cunningham served one term as city treasurer of Cham- 
paign. He is active in the Business Men's Club, is a Republican, and is 
affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks and the Sons of Veterans. He was married August 9, 1899, to 
Miss Alice Miller, a native of Champaign, and daughter of Edward Payson 
and Augusta (Segar) Miller. Both parents are now deceased. Mr. and 
Mrs. Cunningham have two children: Eunice, born August 15, 1903; and 
Newton Miller, born April 17, 1908. 

R. G. MORRISON. A Rantoul residence almost palatial in its architec- 
tural design, size and comforts is the home of Mr. and Mrs. R. G. Morrison 
in their retired years. Mr. Morrison is a veteran of the Civil War and 
fought gallantly for the preservation of the Union when the nation needed 
his services. His industrious efforts as a farmer brought him large 
rewards and though he began with very modest capital he acquired one of 
the handsomest estates of Champaign County. 

Mr. Morrison was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, son of Mr. and 
Mrs. Abram Morrison, his father a native of Ohio and his mother of 
Pennsylvania. In the early days Mr. Morrison attended district schools 
in the vicinity of Zanesville, Ohio. The schoolhouse which stands clearest 
in his memory was an old log building. It had slab benches, a desk sup- 
ported by pins driven into the side wall, and the instruction was as crude 
and limited as the furnishings of the building. Occasionally the pupils 
would attend school for six months in the year, though the usual term was 
three months. 

He was only eighteen years of age when he enlisted at Zanesville for 
service in the Union army. He became a member of the Home. Guard 
and was ordered with his comrades to Maryland, to Harper's Ferry, then 
to Baltimore, and he did service chiefly as a guard along some of the sea- 
coast fortifications. He was mustered out and given his honorable dis- 
charge at Zanesville. 

It was in April, 1870, that Mr. Morrison, then twenty-four years of 
age, drove across the country from Ohio to Champaign County. He 
brought with him his wife, whom he had married in Ohio, Miss Maggie A. 
Frazier. They located at Thomasboro in this county on land belonging 
to Mrs. Morrison's father. Mr. Frazier had given his daughter forty 
acres and Mr. Morrison bought from him forty acres more at a price of 
$1,000. The young couple had the energy and the courage to face life 
cheerfully and bravely for all the hard work it promised, and gradually 
their prosperity took on increasing measure until Mr. Morrison found 
himself possessor of 100 acres, containing some of the richest land in all 
Illinois. For many years he also engaged in the buying of grain at 
Thomasboro. Mr. Morrison has experienced the usual joys and sorrows 
that are the lot of the human family. After his prosperity had been 
assured his good wife passed away and he also saw his son, Lee F. Morri- 
son, enter into rest at the age of twenty-four. Mr. Morrison married 
for his second wife Dolly George, who died in 1916. His present wife 
before her marriage was Mrs. Margaret Mulliken of Champaign, daughter 
of J. S. Grindl ey. She was educated in the Champaign schools. Mrs. 
Morrison has four sons and a daughter by a former marriage: Byron, 
L. Burns, Robert Burns, Helen Margaret and Clarence E. Byron is a 
graduate of the high school in Champaign and is now a stenotypist and 
is employed by a big lumber company in Mississippi. Robert is a student 
in the Military Academy of Mexico, Missouri. 



7X6 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. and Mrs. Morrison are members and liberal supporters of the Con- 
gregational Church. Politically he has always given his allegiance to the 
Republican party. He is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic 
and his wife is a member of the Eastern Star. It was in 1912 that Mr. 
Morrison gave up the active superintendence of his farm and purchased 
his present magnificent home in Rantoul. Here he has surrounded him- 
self with the comforts that are the products of his own work and lives to 
enjoy life in the fullness of years and the consciousness of duties well 
performed. He has always stood as a public spirited citizen of his com- 
munity, and for many years served as school director and did much to 
improve the advantages of the schools in his own locality. He has also 
served as road commissioner. 

HENRY T. SCHUMACHER has been one of the strong and resourceful 
members of the Champaign County bar for the past thirteen years. He 
has built up a large and profitable general clientage and his name and 
reputation are gradually being extended all over the judicial district and 
Ihe eastern se6tion of the State. Mr. Schumacher is a native of Illinois, 
born at LaRose in Marshall County, July 11, 1879. His parents, Adolph 
and Hannah (Steinke) Schumacher, were both natives of Germany. Adolph 
Schumacher came to America about 1858, locating in Marshall County, 
Illinois. For two or three years he lived in the city of Henry, but then 
removed to LaRose and was one of the very first to locate in that vicinity. 
He spent his active career as a farmer and died there in January, 1908. 
The widowed mother still lives at LaRose. Of their four children one 
died in infancy. Alvina, the wife of Edward Rechlin, lives at LaRose, 
Illinois. Louise is the widow of Conrad Henn. 

The fourth in order of birth, Henry T. Schumacher, grew up on his 
father'* farm and his early environment was the rural section of a pros- 
perous Illinois community. In 1899, after completing the work of the 
common schools in his native locality, he spent two years in the University 
of Illinois. He then entered the law department of that university and 
was graduated in 1904 LL. B. Since then Mr. Schumacher has been in 
active practice at Champaign. 

He is a Republican and has been interested to a considerable extent 
in politics, though not in such a way as to interfere with his profession. 
He is now serving as law clerk to the House of Representatives at Spring- 
field. He is a member of the Masonic order, the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order 
of Elks, and he and his family are Presbyterians. 

He married Miss Minnie Nuckolls, a native of Sangamon County, Illi- 
nois. They have four children: J. Willis, Margaret, Henry N., and 
Elizabeth. 

; 

JOHN H. WYXE. For more than forty-five years Champaign County 
has been the home of John H. Wyne, and those have been years of achieve- 
ment in the material sense and also in the acquisition of the riches of 
community esteem paid him for his worthy life and the influence he has 
exerted for good. 

Mr. Wyne was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, January 24, 1842, 
a son of William and Margaret (Rutledge) Wyne. His father was a 
native of Virginia and his mother of Tennessee. His father went to 
Indiana in the early days, and kept his home in that state on a farm until 
his death. He was twice married, and by his first marriage had eight 
children. By his second wife his only child was Mr. John H. Wyne. 

The latter attended school in a hewed log schoolhouse with his half 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 757 

brothers and sisters, and at the age of twenty-nine, in 1871, he came to 
Champaign County to visit his aunt, Marilda Thompson. In this county 
he found employment on farms, and was a steady worker for others until 
he was able to conduct a place of his own. 

He was also twenty-nine years of age when he married, at Cincinnati, 
Ohio, Miss Mary Jane Thompson. The one child of that union is Miles 
Earl Wyne, who was named for his cousin, a prominent lawyer. Miles E. 
Wyne is a practical farmer in Hafwood Township and married Nellie 
Clifton. 

After coming to Champaign County Mr. Wyne worked steadily for a 
farmer, Mr. Philips, and from that labor saved enough to buy forty 
acres of land. That was the nucleus of his homestead and farm and his 
independent efforts have been richly rewarded. When his son 'was five 
years of age the beloved wife and mother passed away, and for his second 
wife Mr. Wyne married Rosa Rigdon, who was born in Parke County, 
Indiana, a daughter of William and Mellie (Carlin) Rigdon. There were 
seven children in the Rigdon family and they were all educated in the 
public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Wyne are active members of the Baptist 
Church at Rantoul and are among the workers and supporters in that 
church. Mr. Wyne is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. 
He has served his community as road overseer and director of the local 
schools. Throughout Harwood Township Mr. Wyne is known affectionately 
as Uncle Johnnie. Wyne. His is a most hospitable home, and he has 
proved a kindly neighbor, so that his name is one that is wreathed with 
kindly memories. He has always been ready to extend a helping hand 
where help was needed and the setting sun of his life finds him comfortably 
situated, with his son near by to relieve him of the heavier duties and 
cares of life. In politics Mr. Wyne is a stanch Republican. He was reared 
in a Democratic household, and as a boy he witnessed many of the evils 
of slavery, and came to have an abomination for that institution. The 
war and the assassination of President Lincoln turned him definitely into 
the ranks of the Republican party and he has been a voter for those prin- 
ciples for over fifty years. 

GEORGE J. BABB is a native of Champaign County, and has made a 
good record as a practical farmer and business man, and his name stands 
equally high as a citizen whose support can be depended upon for those 
movements and enterprises which reflect the public good. 

Mr. Babb was born in Hensley Township, September 30, 1871, a son 
of John and Ann (Deakin) Babb. His parents were both born in Eng- 
land. His father came to America about 1860, and after a brief residence 
in Ohio removed to Champaign County in 1861. He was a practical 
farmer, and lived in this county until his death in June, 1903. For several 
terms he served as supervisor of his township and he always had a following 
of loyal friends. He and his wife were the parents of four children : 
Ella, wife of John Stevenson of Geneva, Nebraska; Alice, wife of D. L. 
Bardwell, formerly superintendent of one of the high schools of New 
York City; Jessie of Champaign; and George J. 

Mr. George J. Babb was educated partly in New York State and for 
one term was a student in the University of Illinois. His first business 
experience was as a farmer in the State of Nebraska. He remained in 
the West three years, and on returning to Champaign County took up 
farming and developed many substantial interests. He remained on his 
farm until 1904, when he removed to the city of Champaign, and is now 
president of the Farmers Grain Company at Thomasboro and also has a 
large grain ranch in Saskatchewan, Canada. When the city of Champaign 



758 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

adopted the commission form of government Mr. Babb was one of the five 
candidates for the office of commissioner and was elected. He is now 
serving as commissioner of finance. 

Mr. Babb was married February 7, 1894, in Nebraska, to Miss Jessie 
Sprout. Mrs. Babb is a native of Illinois. Their four children are: 
Walter George, John Howard, Elizabeth Margaret, and Helen Catherine, all 
of whom are members of the home circle. Mr. Babb is a Republican in 
politics, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is affiliated with 
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the 
World. 

ELI BUCK. The late Eli Buck was one of the fine, substantial and 
prosperous citizens of Champaign County. He established his home here 
in early days, and before his death his name was associated with the owner- 
ship of extensive and valuable farm lands and his character and activities 
were such as all must respect. 

Mr. Buck was born in Vermont, a son of Gould and Valetta Buck. 
He married Miss Catherine Hogan, who still survives and makes her home 
in the village of Penfield. 

Mrs. Buck was born in Tipperary, Ireland, a daughter of Michael and 
Mary (Ridden) Hogan. When she was quite small her father died and 
her widowed mother was left with nine children. When Catherine was 
nine years of age her mother crossed the Atlantic and settled in Con- 
necticut. At the age of fifteen Catherine came to Illinois, and when she 
was twenty years of age she met Eli Buck at Monmouth, Illinois. Their 
acquaintance ripened into affection and culminated in marriage. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Buck located in Monmouth, where 
they remained thirteen years, and then, coming to Champaign County, 
settled within a mile of Gifford. At that time the town of Rantoul con- 
tained only nine small houses. Mr. and Mrs. Buck went sturdily to work 
to build up a home, and had eighty acres well improved when, as a result 
of failure of crops and other circumstances, they suffered financial calamity 
by which they lost all their property. Failing to be discouraged by this 
setback, they started all over again and in time they owned a fine farm of 
160 acres in Compromise Township. 

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Buck were named Thomas Nathan, 
Joseph James, William Michael, George, Anna Valetta, Mary, Martin, 
Alice and Emma. The son Thomas Buck is a well-to-do farmer at Pen- 
field, and by his marriage to Sarah Graham has children named Francis, 
Joseph, Artie, Eddie, Harold and Charles. Joseph Buck married Frances 
Downie, and their children are Leo, Esthej 1 , Margaret, Joseph, Gertrude, 
Francis, Catherine and George. George Buck married Theresa Hennesy. 
Anna Buck is the wife of Peter Mponey and is the mother of Stella, Kate, 
Mary and Dan. Mary Buck married Anthony Hannagan and has one 
child, Artie. Alice Buck is the wife of Henry Ellis, and her children 
are Frances, Loretta and John. Emma Buck, the youngest of the family, 
married Francis Graham, and their family of children consists of Agnes, 
Gertrude, Maude, Francis, Thomas, Raymond and Gilbert. 

The Buck family are all members of the Catholic Church. It was in 
1913 that Mr. Eli Buck was called to his final rest at the age of eighty-four. 
Though he attained advanced years he was a strong man both physically 
and mentally. He had an uncle who lived to be one hundred and two years 
of age. Mr. Buck was a kind and loving husband and father, and his 
name is greatly revered in the community where he spent so many years. 

Mrs. Buck is still living, with her children around her, and she has 
reared them all to worthy lives. She is able to say what few mothers 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 759 

can say, that during all her active associations with her children she never 
chastised them physically and when she spoke she was obeyed. This habit 
of obedience was one of the characteristics of the Buck home and is one 
that many families might emulate. Mrs. Buck still has in her home her 
son William Michael, a splendid young American, who, like the other 
children, was well educated and his life has been an honor to his parents. 

ANDREW TORNQUIST when he came to America from his native Sweden 
in 1879 had as his equipment some experience in mechanical trades and 
also as a farmer. Otherwise his capital was extremely limited. An earn- 
est purpose, hard work, and that wisdom that comes with experience, have 
put him far ahead in the game of life, and while he is not wealthy as 
wealth is understood at the present time he is financially independent and 
for all that he has he has given an adequate reward in service and practical 
value to the communities where he has lived. 

Mr. Tornquist was born in Sweden, July 13, 1857, a son of Daniel and 
Carolina (Anderson) Tornquist, being their only child. When he was 
fifteen years of age his father died and the mother married again and is 
still living in Sweden. His father was a blacksmith and carriage maker. 
At the age of fifteen Andrew Tornquist had to take upon his shoulders 
unusual responsibilities. With such knowledge as he had picked up of his 
father's trade he managed to carry on the little shop and business and also 
managed the farming property of his father. At the age of twenty Mr. 
Tornquist left home and removed to the city of Stockholm, where he 
worked at the building trade as a carpenter and brick layer. 

That experience continued for a year and a half and in 1879 he sought 
a home and better fortune in America. Locating in Chicago, he became 
a mechanical employe in the power shops of the Illinois Central Railway 
Company, , but in 1881 removed to Donovan, Iroquois County, Illinois. 
There he bought a machine and repair shop, and was successful in 
business there for about twenty years. He also bought a farm of eighty 
acres, and is still owner of that property. After selling his first shop he 
engaged in the hardware business with A. C. Swanson, under the firm 
name of Tornquist & Swanson, for three years. Mr. Tornquist then traded 
his interest in this store for one hundred and sixty acres of land in Min- 
nesota. In the meantime he had taken up contracting and building, and 
he continued that until he came to Champaign. He had also built another 
machine shop, and thus was a man of varied interests and affairs. 

In 1903 Mr. Tornquist moved to Champaign. He bought ground on 
Springfield Avenue, and built a ten-room house after tearing down the 
small house that had formerly occupied the site. He sold this house and 
bought a cottage, later bought two lots in the Fairland Addition, building 
on one lot and selling the other. Still later he bought the home at 
408 Chalmers Street where he now resides. In 1913 he acquired the 
property at 601 Chalmers Street and during the same year put up another 
house on that ground. In 1907 he made a trip to his old home in Sweden, 
remaining away three months and upon his return Mr. Tornquist accepted 
a position as mechanic in the farm and mechanic department of the Univer- 
sity of Illinois. 

He married in 1883, four years after coming to America, Matilda 
Johnson, also a native of Sweden. Three children were born to their 
union, the second, a son, dying in infancy. Charles Herman, the oldest, 
is a graduate civil engineer from the University of Illinois, and is now 
employed on an irrigation and power plant project in the State of Idaho. 
Alpha Caroline, the only daughter, was graduated in the domestic science 
department from the University of Illinois in 1917. Mr. Tornquist is a 



760 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Eepublican in politics. While living in Iroquois County he served as a 
member of the School Board six years. He is affiliated with Western Star 
Lodge, A. F. & A. M. of Champaign, Champaign Chapter, R. A. M., 
and Champaign Commandery, K. T., and is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

CHARLES M. EAGLETON is one of the best known men of Champaign, 
where he has lived for over thirty years. His father died while in the 
service of the Union. Government during the Civil War, and the son was 
thus early thrown upon his own resources. He has made good in the 
work and responsibilities that destiny has assigned him, and his name is 
spoken with respect throughout a large community of this rich and pros- 
perous section of Illinois. 

Mr. Eagleton was born in Jasper County, Illinois, October 24, 1858, a 
son of Alexander M. and Mary J. (Fair) Eagleton. His father was a 
native of Tennessee and his mother of Pennsylvania. Alexander Eagleton 
followed farming in Jasper County, enlisted from there as a volunteer 
in the Union army early in the Civil War and was soon assigned to manage 
a supply store for the army at Helena, Arkansas. He died while still at 
his post. His widow has survived him all these years and is now living 
at Newton in Jasper County, Illinois, at the age of ninety-one. 

Next to the youngest in a family of eight children, Charles M. Eagleton 
had rather limited home comforts when a boy and he was not given the 
privilege of attending even the common schools with perfect regularity. 
Besides what he acquired in the common schools he attended a normal 
at Newton for two terms. In 1884 Mr. Eagleton came to Champaign, 
and having learned the carpenter's trade, followed it actively in this com- 
munity until 1897. He was then elected to the office of constable and 
filled that position with credit and efficiency for seven years. He resigned 
to enter the real estate and insurance business and is still an insurance 
man, representing several of the well known companies and having a large 
clientage throughout the county. 

He has always been interested in local affairs and in 1903 was elected 
alderman from the Third Ward. He was a member of the governing 
body of the city for eleven yeats, finally resigning. He was then appointed 
superintendent of streets, and gave most of his time to that important 
office until May 15, 1917, when the city adopted the commission form of 
government. 

Mr. Eagleton married for his first wife Maggie Howell, who died, 
leaving him two children, Mena of Champaign, and Ruby, wife of Walter 
Ellis of Newton, Jasper County, Illinois. For his second wife Mr. Eagle- 
ton married Minnie Conroy, a native of Rushville, Indiana. They have 
one child, Charles M., Jr., who is now in the fourth year of the Champaign 
High School and is preparing to enter the University of Illinois. 

Mr. Eagleton is a Republican in politics. He is one of the directors 
of the Champaign County Monumental Association and is affiliated with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Sons of Veterans. 

ROBERT GROVES, now living retired at Sidney, when in his prime was 
regarded as one of the keenest and best judges of live stock in Champaign 
County. He has had a long and useful career, and one that is deserving 
of more than passing mention. 

Mr. Groves was born in Rush County, Indiana, at the town of Fairview, 
September 17, 1839, son of Joseph and Nancy (Baker) Groves. The 
original Groves came from Havre de Grace. Maryland, and distributed 
themselves in the states of Kentucky and Indiana. A more remote origin 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 761 

of the family is found in Holland, where Hans and Jacob, known in 
English as John and Jacob, Graff lived and emigrating from that country 
they bought land from William Penn in Pennsylvania. The name Graff 
became in time Grove. These two brothers married and settled in Penn- 
sylvania and reared large families who in subsequent generations moved to 
Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and other states. From the first they were noted 
as progressive and ambitious men, and it used to be a common saying in 
Pennsylvania there was never a lazy Groves known. They excelled as 
hunters and were among the brave frontiersmen. On one occasion two 
Groves brothers, John and Mike, were returning with some young men 
from a deer hunt jn Pennsylvania. They met a small war party of Indians, 
from whose belt hung the scalps of the Groves boys' parents and neighbors. 
The Indians by their grimaces indicated to the boys how the parents 
looked while being scalped. The boys hastened home, found the village in 
ruins and the bodies of their parents, and then and there vowed vengeance 
on the perpetrators of the massacre. With two companions the Groves 
boys followed the Indians three days and finally came upon the place where 
they were camped at night. The Indians had stacked their arms on the 
bank of a creek, and all were asleep except one left on guard. Mike Groves, 
who was able to speak the Indian language, instructed his companions to 
fire when he gave the signal in the words, "Surround them, boys." Creep- 
ing through the tall grass until he reached the place where the arms were 
stacked, he grabbed up all the guns and threw them over the bank into the 
creek, at the same time yelling in the Indian language, "Surround them, 
boys." He himself shot the guard while his companions fired, each one 
killing an Indian. The red men made a race for their arms, were fired on 
a second time, and being completely routed they ran for their lives. The 
white men followed them two days, and drove them entirely from that part 
of the country. This was the last Indian raid recorded in Pennsylvania, 
and the citizens were so grateful to the Groves boys that they named the 
township Groves Township in their honor. Thirty years ago the old creek 
was drained, and the old rusted flintlock muskets were recalled as testi- 
mony to this brave attack. 

At one time Jacob Groves of Sugar Creek, Pennsylvania, was charged 
by a big buck deer which he had wounded. Having no time to climb a 
tree he grasped the enraged animal by the antlers, matching his strength 
against that of the wild beast. They fought round and round in the 
brush until they got close to a white oak sapling, and while holding on for 
his life with one hand the hunter twisted the sapling around the deer's 
neck, and slowly by inches brought the head to the ground and dispatched 
the animal with his hunting knife. He returned home too exhausted to 
carry the meat and with his clothing torn in shreds. 

The grandfather of Mr. Eobert Groves was a licensed Methodist Epis- 
copal preacher and also a soldier in the War of 1812. Eev. William A. 
'Groves of Oil City, Pennsylvania, was also a minister of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and J. W. Groves and wife, Mrs. M. Groves, were 
ministers in the Advent Christian Church. Mrs. Groves was state evan- 
gelist in Ohio and Washington. They" organized several churches in Penn- 
sylvania and Ohio. At Mount Liberty, Ohio, they held a tent meeting, 
organizing a fine church of ninety-nine members. Mrs. Groves has engaged 
in evangelistic work from Buffalo, New York, to Vancouver, British Colum- ' 
bia, preaching in thirteen states in the Union and also in the Canadas. 
They have one son, Don Welcome Groves, now of John Day, Oregon. 
Mrs. Groves is author of an interesting book, entitled "Broken Links in 
Error's Chain," which has received some favorable press and pulpit com- 
ments. It is an argument against the mythological and traditionary per- 



762 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

sonal Satan, shown to be purely a relic from the Dark Ages. The work 
accomplishes the commendable purpose of driving sin home where it 
belongs, the heart of man. 

The family of Joseph Groves consisted of nine children, five sons and 
four daughters. They were all educated in the Fairview schoolhouse in 
Eush County, Indiana. Eobert, who was the fifth in age, grew up in that 
Indiana district, and at the age of twenty-eight laid the foundation of 
his own home by his marriage to Sarah W. Ginn of Connersville, Indiana, 
a daughter of Gabriel and Hannah (Wood) Ginn. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Groves located near Fairview on 
rented land, but the next year moved to Wabash County, where they farmed 
for three years. In 1870 they came to Sidney, Illinois, and this has 
been their home for forty-seven consecutive years. During all this time 
Mr. Groves has been engaged successfully in buying live stock, and for 
many years shipped to market at Buffalo. He was considered one of the 
best judges of live stock in a section where live stock men rank second to 
none, and many have said that what Eobert Groves did not know about 
stock was not worth knowing. 

Into their home were born three children, Mabel, Howard and Carl. 
Mr. and Mrs. Groves gave them the best of educational advantages, includ- 
ing the Sidney High School. The daughter Mabel took up teaching as a 
life work, graduated from the Normal College, and is now living with 
her parents at Sidney. The son Howard was well embarked on a promis- 
ing career when at the age of thirty-four he lost his life in a railroad 
accident at Litchfield, Illinois, July 3, 1904. At the time he was employed 
as a train dispatcher with home at Decatur, Illinois. He left a widow, 
formerly Miss Mollie Cook, and one son, Eobert Cook Groves, who is now 
in the United States army in Battery F of the artillery at Long Island. 

At the age of seventy-seven Mr. Groves carries his years gracefully, is 
hale and hearty, and takes a keen interest in all that goes on round about 
him, including the welfare and activities of his many friends. He has 
prospered in life and has always kept his character of integrity unsullied. 
He is widely and affectionately known as Uncle Eobert Groves. He had 
a close and intimate acquaintance with many of the prominent men of 
Champaign County, including the late Judge Cunningham and Colonel 
Busey, and for a quarter of a century has banked with the Harris family 
at Champaign. Mr. and Mrs. Groves have for many years been identified 
with the Christian Church, but their daughter is a Presbyterian. Polit- 
ically Mr. Groves is a stalwart Eepublican, having grown up as such and has 
never felt that his confidence in that party and its principles was misplaced. 

ISAAC NEWTON WADE. There are doubtless a number of men and 
women now in mature years who knew Isaac Newton Wade in Champaign 
County as a teacher. He was one of the early educators, and afterwards 
for a long period of years was a traveling salesman for a text book house. 
Mr. Wade is now living retired at Champaign, in which city he has had 
his home for the past forty-five years. 

He was born in Lockland, Ohio, May 13, 1846, a son of Moses and 
Eachel (Ferris) Wade. His mother was a native of Mount Arie, Ohio, 
and died at Lockland. The father, who was 'born in Switzerland County, 
Indiana, became a merchant tailor, and died at Champaign, Illinois, at 
the age of eighty-five. Of their five children the first three died in 
infancy. The fourth was the late Arthur Elliott Wade, who died at 
Urbana in 1916. 

The youngest of the family, Isaac Newton Wade, acquired a liberal 
education. He attended College Hill (General Sam Gary's College near 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 763 

Cincinnati), and subsequently entered Hillsdale College in Michigan. 
He was graduated from Hillsdale in 1868 and has the degrees Master of 
Arts and Master of Science. While at Hillsdale he was a schoolmate and 
friend of the famous poet Will Carleton, who sang his way into the hearts 
of many thousands in the previous generation and whose poems are still 
read and appreciated. After completing his education Mr. Wade taught 
school in Ohio until 1870, when he came to Illinois and continued 
teaching in Douglas County. His work as a teacher in Champaign County 
was done at Sadorus, Rantoul and Toulon. He was also located for a 
time in the schools of Bement in Stark County. Mr. Wade has a life 
teacher's certificate for the State of Illinois, given him by the venerable 
Newton Bateman. 

From practical school work Mr. Wade went on the road as a traveling 
salesman for a school book company. He represented the company over 
a large territory for thirty-six years, and finally retired on a pension from 
the company. Mr. Wade is a Republican in politics, is a Knight Templar 
Mason, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

In Douglas County, Illinois, in August, 1870, he married Miss Nannie 
Brian. Mrs. Wade died at Champaign a number of years ago. There 
were three children : George Leonard, now living at Kansas City, Missouri ; 
Thomas Brian, member of the faculty of the dental department of the 
Philadelphia Medical College; and Fred Alonzo, of Peoria. 

WILLIAM F. EVANS has been identified with Champaign County for 
over twenty years, and he and his capable wife now enjoy the comforts 
and pleasures of a fine country home a mile and a half west of Rantoul 
and have near them their children and grandchildren and can look back 
with pardonable pride over many years well spent. 

Mr. Evans was born in Franklin County, Ohio, in 1856, the third in 
a family of twelve children whose parents were Daniel and Isabel (Engle) 
Evans. His father and mother were also natives of Ohio. When he was 
nine years of age the family came to Illinois, locating a mile and a half 
west of Dewey. Here William F. Evans grew to manhood, attended the 
district schools and made himself proficient in those duties and responsi- 
bilities which are the portion of the industrious farmer. 

When he was twenty-seven years of age, on December 31, 1883, he 
married Miss Sarah Belle Rider. Mrs. Evans, the only child of Jason L. 
and Mary (Forshee) Rider, was born in Michigan, twenty miles west of 
Detroit, and her parents were also natives of the same state. She was well 
educated in the public schools of Michigan and at the age of twenty-three, 
her mother having died and her father being lonely after the home was 
broken up, removed to Kansas, where his daughter joined him. It was 
while in Kansas that she met Mr. Evans, who in the meantime had gone 
out to the western counties of that state to take up a homestead. They 
were married in Hodgeman County. 

For ten years Mr. and Mrs. Evans struggled with the adverse con- 
ditions of life in western Kansas. They had youth and enthusiasm and 
industry, though Mrs. Evans suffered much from ill health. Nearly all 
the experiences that the pioneers in western Kansas endured were a portion 
of the life of Mr. and Mrs. Evans. They lived in a stock-raising country, 
and Mr. Evans acquired a large herd of cattle. There were drouths, hot 
winds, crop failures, and twice they were burned out by prairie fires. In 
the great blizzard of 1886 they lost much of their stock. Through an 
accident Mrs. Evans suffered a severe injury to one of her feet, and about 
that time Mr. Evans decided to sell his stock in order that he might have 
more time to wait on his wife. When the stock was sold he put the money 



764 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

in the bank. Then came the year of panic and hard times, 1893, and the 
treasurer of the bank absconded with all the money, including Mr. Evans' 
hard won savings. After that disaster he was left with his sick wife and 
with only his land and a few dollars in money. 

Prospects were so discouraging that they determined to sell their Kansas 
interests and return to Illinois. In the meantime two children had come 
into their home, Frank Lee and Hazel Belle. For the return journey 
Mr. Evans fitted up a wagon into the model of the old type of prairie 
schooner. In this they made provision to live as comfortably as possible 
during their journey, and they spent fifty-one days on the return trip. 
They slept in the wagon, never once in a house, and finally arrived at 
Mr. Evans' old home in Champaign County. Here for one year he rented 
a farm near Dewey, later farmed for his father, and finally was able to 
purchase 160 acres, comprising the beautiful farm that he now owns near 
Eantoul. 

In Champaign County Mr. and Mrs. Evans were fortunate in having 
superior educational advantages for their children. The son and daughter 
completed the course of the eighth grade and afterward were students in 
the Eantoul High School, where they graduated. The son took the agri- 
cultural course at the University of Illinois and is now a practical and 
scientific farmer on a place adjoining his father. He married Miss Mina 
Elsie Webster, a native of Champaign County and a daughter of Charles B. 
Webster. Two children are in their home, June and Paul Arthur. The 
daughter, Hazel Belle Evans, after graduating from the Eantoul High 
School, became a very successful teacher. She taught two years in the 
Hyde school, also at the Union Center school, and her unusual qualifica- 
tions caused the school board to employ her to teach the higher courses 
in the district school, and thus she afforded the pupils the opportunity of 
carrying on high school work in a common school. She is now the wife of 
Edward Fanning Webster, a farmer living near Eantoul. Their house- 
hold comprises three children, a son and two daughters, Charles William, 
aged six; Dorothy May, aged four; and Euth Pearl, aged two. 

Thus Mr. and Mrs. Evans have five lively grandchildren, who consider 
a visit to the home of their grandparents one of the greatest opportunities 
and pleasures. Mrs. Evans finds it a difficult matter to keep her cookie 
jar filled when her house is invaded by her grandsons and granddaughters, 
bringing with them all the sunshine of life. 

In politics Mr. Evans is liberal in his views and believes in voting 
for principles instead of for party. However, he has long thrown the 
weight of his influence on the side of temperance and looks forward even 
within his own lifetime to the day when nation-wide temperance will be a 
reality. 

LUTHER B. SOUDER is proprietor of one of the oldest dyeing and clean- 
ing establishments in Champaign County. It was originally established 
by his father more than half a century ago, and he has perfected and 
modernized its equipment and service until its facilities are now unex- 
celled by any similar enterprise in the county. 

Mr. Souder is a native of Champaign, where he was born January 4, 
1878, a son of Samuel H. and Lottie A. (Taylor) Souder. His -father 
was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his mother in 
Marysville, Ohio. Samuel Souder came to Champaign County in 1856, 
and was first identified with farming. In 1866 he established at Cham- 
paign a cleaning business, and by careful and thorough work soon had a 
trade that was profitable and satisfactory to himself and the community. 
He was active in this business until his death, which occurred in Septem- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 765 

her, 1915. His widow is still living in Champaign. Their four children 
are: Louise, wife of Oscar L. Davidson, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Luther 
B. ; Jennie E., wife of C. A. Carlson, of Champaign; and Mary, deceased. 

Luther B. Souder grew up in Champaign, attended the local schools, 
and as something that would be of benefit to him in his business he took 
a special course in art and design at the University. As a boy he worked 
in his father's establishment, and has succeeded to the proprietorship of 
the business. 

He is a Republican in politics, a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of 
America. On September 2, 1904, Mr. Souder married Edna W. Hall, 
who was born in Paxton, Illinois. They have four children : Robert Hall, 
'Luther Samuel, Eugene Phillip and Virginia. 

JOSEPH WHITE. Among the numerous families of Champaign County, 
Illinois, whose industry and activities of life have aided in its upbuilding 
is that of White. Joseph White is one of the prosperous and successful 
farmers located east of Rantoul, some three miles. In the early years of 
his young manhood he came to Champaign County, and there with his good 
wife, whose maiden name was Jane Osborn, they began to found a perma- 
nent home for themselves. The young couple experienced many trying 
hardships incident to pioneer life, but possessing strongly those qualifica- 
tions which go to make up a splendid citizenship, industry, progressiveness 
and economy, they went to work with that determined energy that always 
marks the life of successful men and women of earth. 

Progress was the keynote of their lives, and during the passing years 
their industry has met with pleasing success. 

One especially pleasing feature of their life's work was the pains they 
exerted in the education of their children, fully realizing the advantage to 
them in future years of possessing this needful equipment for life's duties. 
It was especially gratifying to see them manifest an admirable interest in 
the pursuit of their studies, and, after graduating from the state univer- 
sity in Urbana, become popular and successful teachers in Champaign 
County. Anna, the daughter, is the wife of V. B. Rusk, and their two 
children are Mildred and Walter. Mary is the wife of Frank Rusk, and 
their home is near Armstrong, Illinois. Their children are Nellie, Rea, 
Russell, Harold and Lloyd. 

The. White family have experienced the usual joys and sorrows inci- 
dent to the human family. The death angel visited the home at different 
times and the dear mother entered into rest after a long and useful life, 
in which her many acts of Christian kindness endeared her to a large 
circle of friends. She rests today with heaven's benediction resting upon 
her, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." The daughter Tillie, 
who for years had been a beloved teacher in Champaign County, was also 
claimed by death. She was an admirable character who left a large circle 
of friends to mourn her loss. The remaining daughters, Grace, Florence 
and Margaret, are at home, being home makers for their father and their 
brother Thomas, who manages the farm. 

The family are honored members of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
and their lives have been closely identified with the interests of Champaign 
County. In fact so much so that a history of Champaign County would 
be incomplete without a compilation of their lives in the records of the 
county's community builders. Therefore it is with pleasure that the 
above is compiled of this most worthy family. 

216 



766 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

BERT E. SPALDING was born in Champaign and has spent his life prac- 
tically within the limits of that city. When little more than a boy he 
became self supporting, acquired business experience under others, and 
now for a number of years has been one of the leading druggists. 

He was born in Champaign, January 7, 1868, son of John W. and 
Maria (Halford) Spalding. His father was a native of Hamilton, Ohio, 
and his mother was born in Nottingham, England. She was a sister of 
E. W. Halford, who a number of years ago was private secretary to Presi- 
dent Benjamin Harrison. John W. Spalding came to Champaign in 1866. 
For many years he followed his trade as a wagon maker and subsequently 
was in the shoe business. During Harrison's administration he served 
as postmaster of Champaign. He died in 1911, an honored and respected 
citizen, while his wife passed away in 1903. They were the parents of 
eight children: Walter, deceased; Arthur, of Champaign; Lois, deceased; 
W. P., of Champaign; Bert E. ; John, deceased; Margaret, widow of 
Joseph Laughlin, of Boston, Massachusetts ; Jessie, wife of Charles Frison, 
of Bloomington, Illinois. 

Bert E. Spalding obtained his early education in the public schools of 
his native city. After one year in high school he determined to give up 
his studies and fit himself for business. In 1885 he became a clerk in 
H. Swannell's drug store and learned the business as a profession and in 
all other details. He remained with that store until 1898, when he 
became associated with John T. Quirk in the same line of business. In 
1909 the store was established at 602 Green Street, with Mr. Spalding 
and Mr. Quirk as partners. In February, 1915, the partnership was 
dissolved and since that time Mr. Spalding has conducted the Green Street 
store alone. 

He has always been active and popular in local affairs and organiza- 
tions. In 1894-95 he served as alderman and is now a candidate for a 
position on the city commission. He is a Eepublican, a member of the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World, the 
University Club, the Eotary Club, and is a member of the Country Club. 
He and his family worship in the Episcopal Church. 

Mr. Spalding married Josephine Arie, a native of Champaign. They 
have two children, Russell and Halford. 

MART E. WATSON. In the home of her declining years in Rantoul 
Mrs. Mary E. Watson is one of the noble women of this county who 
experienced the pioneer hardships connected with establishing a home and 
developing a farm out of the raw prairie. Her late husband, James Wat- 
son, for long years had a substantial place in this community. He was 
honored for his work and for the influence of his character and his home. 
It was of such men that the Holy Writer spoke when he said : "Their 
bodies are buried in peace but their names live for evermore. The people 
will tell of their wisdom and the congregation will show forth their praise." 

Mrs. Watson was born in the Blue Grass district of Kentucky, a 
daughter of William H. and Rachel M. Huffman. She was one of five 
children, the others being Susan J., Cynthia A., George W. and Wellington. 
She also had a half brother and two half sisters, John D., Ida C. and 
Donna E. The sons both died in infancy. The three sisters settled in 
different states, Kansas, Indiana and Illinois. When Mary E. Huffman 
was seven and a half years of age her mother died and she had only limited 
opportunities to attend school. 

James Watson, whom she married when she was still a young girl, 
was the son of William N. and Ellen Watson of Chillicothe, Ohio. In the 
modern growth and development of Chillicothe some of its built up streets 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 767 

have stretched out to the borders of the old farm where he was born. 
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. James Watson located in Champaign 
County and lived for a year two and a half miles east of Ludlow in a 
one-room house with a little summer kitchen attached. The land was 
owned by Mr. Watson's father. Subsequently they moved nearer to Ran- 
toul and lived on a rented place. By strict economy and industry they 
were able after one year to make the first payment on an eighty-acre 
tract of railroad land. When they made that payment it was one of the 
proudest moments of their lives. Thus they had made a beginning in 
getting a home for themselves and, blessed with good health and strength, 
they went forward in their career until Mr. and Mrs. Watson owned an 
estate of 440 acres in Illinois and 317 acres in North Dakota. Three 
children were born to their union, William Allen, John Calvin and James 
Ernest. James E. died in infancy in 1877. The surviving sons were 
well educated. They first attended the district schools, and both were 
students of Eureka College, John C. spending five years there and he subse- 
quently spent two years in Harvard University, where he was graduated. 
William A. was for two years a student in Eureka College. The Watson 
family has made a notable record as educators. Mrs. Watson taught in 
the old home district of Champaign County. Her son William A. was 
a teacher at Pleasant Ridge, Ludlow Center and other districts in Cham- 
paign County. John C. taught at Menominee, Michigan, and in Chicago, 
and from there went to Harvard University to do post-graduate work. 
For fojir years he was one of the instructors in Cornell University. Finally, 
for th*e benefit of his family's health, he went to the Northwest and 
bought a half section of land in North Dakota. John C. Watson married 
Miss Edna Hamilton of Harristown, Illinois, a former classmate, who 
graduated with him from Eureka College. She also had taught before 
her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. John C. Watson have three children, two 
daughters aqd one son, Constance, Malcolm and Beatrice. These grand- 
children of Mrs. Watson have proved equally proficient in their studies. 
Constance has attended the University of Dakota two years, while Malcolm 
has had one year of instruction in that school. 

William Allen Watson married an old schoolmate, Miss Maude 
Anthony, and they have a daughter, Zelda Irene, who is now a successful' 
teacher east of Ludlow. Zelda I. enjoys the distinction of teaching in the 
same schoolhouse where her grandmother, Mrs. Watson, taught fifty-two 
years ago. The influence exerted by a teacher upon the generations is 
inestimable and beyond all computation. Members of the Watson family 
have done a splendid work in this field and they have the satisfaction of 
knowing that the influence they exerted did not cease when they closed 
their term of school. 

Mr. and Mrs. Watson were active members of the Christian Church, 
which Mr. Watson served many years as deacon. In later years he was 
elected to the post of honorary deacon. 

Besides her grandchildren Mrs. Watson now has only the comfort of 
one living son. Her son William A., a noble young character beloved by 
all who knew him, passed away in 1894. 

Mr. James Watson's health began to decline in 1916 and his life came 
to a peaceful close on April 26, 1917. He had lived long and usefully 
and a host of friends paid tribute to his memory. The name Watson 
stands significant of deeds of kindness and upright character throughout 
the length and breadth of Champaign County. Mrs. Watson is an earnest 
Christian woman, cultivated and refined, and has made her life of benefit 
to her family and to a large community. Her only surviving son, John C., 
at the death of his father, resigned his position as dean and professor of 
Latin of Nevada University at Reno, Nevada, and returned to look after 



768 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

the estate of his father in Champaign County and care for the mother in 
her declining years. 

The late Mr. Watson served his community as constable and tax col- 
lector. He was one of the early day tax collectors and frequently collected 
large sums of public money. There being no bank available, he acted as 
his own banker and for all the sums he had at his home at different 
times the money was never molested. In later years he served as assessor 
of his township and supervisor and school director. Mrs. Watson has many 
happy memories of her early home, a log cabin in the timber near Paxton 
and later on a lonely prairie. Frequently she heard the howling of prairie 
wolves, and on some of the mornings of sunshine in winter could see the 
deer playing over the snow. The dark, graceful bodies of these animals 
made a striking contrast against the snowy background. Such were some 
of the features of the environment in which she and her husband began 
their careers, and in later life she found herself surrounded with every 
comfort and with the love and veneration of family and friends. 

DANIEL MORRISSEY. In the case of this well known citizen of Cham- 
paign success speaks for itself. Perhaps a few men remember the time 
when Daniel Morrissey was helping run a small weekly paper. That was 
more than half century ago. He early succumbed to an irresistible impulse 
to buy land. He bought with unlimited faith in the future of this 
locality, and his friends say that he also bought with almost unlimited skill 
and accuracy of judgment. Doubtless he made some mistakes, but they 
have not interfered with the big results. For the benefit of future genera- 
tions, if not for the present, it is useful to state that Mr. Morrissey is one 
of the three largest land owners in Champaign County, and is president of 
the Morrissey Farm Land Mortgage Company. 

He was born in New York State, August 4, 1844, a son of James and 
Mary (Murphy) Morrissey, both of whom were natives of Gounty Mayo, 
Ireland. His parents spent the last years of their lives in New York 
State. 

The spirit of independence, which is an Irish characteristic, was coupled 
in Daniel Morrissey's equipment with unlimited industry and energy. At 
the age of fourteen he left home and went to Detroit, Michigan. There 
he had his first experience in a printing office. Subsequently he worked 
on the old Chicago Times at Chicago. His work as a printer he gave up 
to take a position with the Western Union Telegraph Company on con- 
struction work. He helped build the line from Mendota, Illinois, to 
Burlington, Iowa. 

A friend of his boyhood days, D. S. Crandall, had in the meantime 
come to Champaign, Illinois, and was conducting a newspaper known as 
the Union Weekly. Mr. Morrissey joined him here in 1863. When he 
arrived in the county his- cash assets amounted to $13.75. Mr. Morrissey's 
chief success in life is coincident with and a reflection of the development 
of the magnificent agricultural resources of this part of Illinois. A lover 
of the country, he was alive to every opportunity to get possession of a 
piece of land. The progress in his accumulations would, if described in 
detail, be a quite accurate record of his growing financial asset. When- 
ever he had any money to spare, and sometimes on credit, he bought land 
that his judgment urged him to buy. Thus it is that now he is recognized 
as one of the largest land owners in Champaign County. He pays taxes 
on something more than three thousand acres in this county alone, while 
in the Northwest and in other parts of the country he owns between nine 
thousand and ten thousand acres. 

All the while Mr. Morrissey has been a force in good citizenship and in 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 769 

good business at Champaign. He is active in the Citizens Commercial 
Club and the Chamber of Commerce, is a popular member of the Elks' 
Lodge, and he was reared in the Catholic Church. His wife, whose 
maiden name was Annie Donnelly, died at Champaign, January 20, 1916. 
Their three children were Daniel C., who is actively associated with his 
father in business; M. J. Morrissey, who died February 17, 1916; and Fay, 
also an associate of his father. 

DELL E. HARRIS. In the University district of Champaign there is 
no merchant better known to the student population and citizens gen- 
erally than Dell E. Harris, who for over twenty-five years has been in 
active business as a confectioner. Mr. Harris has succeeded because he has 
concentrated his energies largely along one line, has studied and worked 
to develop a product of superfine quality, and has made that product of 
such a standard of perfection that it now signifies quality and is dis- 
tributed over a market by no means confined to Champaign or even to the 
state of Illinois. 

Mr. Harris was born at Normal, Illinois, June 16, 1870, a son of 
Zera W. and Julia A. (Dyke) Harris, both of whom are still living. His 
father was a Union soldier during the Civil War, serving thirty-seven 
months in Company C., Fifth Illinois Cavalry. There were six children : 
Frank D., who is engaged in the real estate business at Champaign ; 
Ray R., a physician practicing at Dubuque, Iowa; Ralph M., associated 
with his brother in the confectionery business at Champaign; Dell E. ; 
Effie Estelle, wife of Professor E. J. Lake, an instructor in the 
University of Illinois; and Ruth, wife of William Dailey, of Mason 
City, Iowa. 

Dell E. Harris spent his early youth principally at Decatur, where he 
completed the grade school work. He was about sixteen years of age 
when he engaged in the confectionary business for himself in that city. 
It was a moderate start, but he did not handle his establishment in a 
routine and negligent fashion, and in a short time his success was more 
than his most sanguine hopes had anticipated. He not only made a 
good living but also acquired an extensive knowledge of the confectionery 
business both as a manufacturing proposition and in the sale and dis- 
tribution of the products. 

In 1891 Mr. Harris came to Champaign. His first location was at 
61 North Neil Street, where he had his store until March, 1908. In 
the meantime he opened a branch establishment in the University district 
on Wright Street. After selling his store on Neil Street in 1908 he 
bought the business property at 608 East Green Street where his hand- 
some store now stands. The two stores were continued until the lease on 
the Wright Street store expired in 1914, at which time the enterprise was 
consolidated. He now handles all his trade at one store, which was opened 
January 1, 1910. 

The popularity of his store and of his goods is a by-word in Cham- 
paign. His store is in the student district of the University of Illinois, 
and much of his patronage comes from the University. Mr. Harris 
originated the famous "La Noy" chocolates, and has the name, which is 
derived from the word Illinois, copyrighted and registered in the United 
States patent office. The La Noy chocolates are made and sold in 
Champaign, but they also go in package lots to. every state of the Union 
and to China, Japan and the Philippine Islands. The mail order feature 
is now one of the most profitable parts of the business for Mr. Harris. 

Mr. Harris is a past president of the University District Commercial 
Association of Champaign and has been a progressive factor in everything 



770 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

concerning the commercial life of his section of the city. He is also a 
member of the Eotary Club, the Travelers Protective Association, the 
Sons of Veterans, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks. Mrs. Harris is an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Mr. Harris was married December 8, 1908, to Miss 
Frances Eoberts. She is a daughter of the late Joseph Eoberts, a well 
known farmer of Champaign County. Mr. and Mrs. Harris have one 
daughter, Flora, now six years of age. 

JAMES SPERRY, a well known contractor and builder at Ogden, is a 
native of Champaign County, and has spent his active career to good 
purpose early as a farmer and later in the business which has brought him 
such generous success. 

Mr. Sperry was born north of St. Joseph, November 27, 1859, a son 
of Elias and Serena (Helton) Sperry. His father was born in Ohio and 
his mother in Virginia. Serena Helton was a daughter of Simeon and 
Sally Helton, who moved from Virginia to Kentucky and when Serena 
was twelve years of age settled in Indiana. Serena Helton was educated 
in the public schools of Indiana. She was a member of a family of nine 
children, three sons and six daughters. The Heltons afterwards settled 
in Champaign County north of St. Joseph. Serena Helton and Elias 
Sperry were married near Greencastle, Indiana, and then went to farming 
in this county. They had five children: Mary Ellen, now Mrs. Church 
Rush; Sarah Josephine, deceased; James, Elmer and Arthur C. 

James Sperry attained his education in the public school known as 
the Old Blackberry Schoolhouse. When the Sperry family came to Cham- 
paign County the country was a virgin prairie, deer roamed about over 
the country, and wild fowls were in such abundance as at times to darken 
the skies in their flight. The Sperrys experienced many of the hardships 
connected with establishing homes in this new country. 

On May 4, 1864, Elias Sperry enlisted in Company A of the One Hun- 
dred and Thirty-fifth Illinois Infantry. His service was brief, since he 
contracted measles and had not yet recovered from that disease when he 
was placed on guard duty, and again fell ill. He received his honorable 
discharge July 17, 1864, at Pilot Knob, Missouri. He did not long sur- 
vive the ordeal of warfare. 

James Sperry was only a boy when his father died and he had to 
assume the serious responsibilities of life at an early age. He began 
farming on rented land and lived in bachelor's quarters for a time. On 
September 28, 1879, at the age of twenty, he married Martha Jane Hayes. 

Mrs. Sperry was born in Oakwood Township of Vermilion County, Illi- 
nois, daughter of John and Martha J. (Gray) Hayes. Martha Hayes 
was seven years of age when her father died and she was reared in the 
home of her mother and attended public school at Ogden. Her mother, 
Martha J. Gray, was a daughter of William Gray, a native of Ireland. 
William Gray married Rosanna Hansel. The ancestry of the Hayes family 
goes back to Revolutionary days. David Gray, who was born in Ireland, 
served in the War of the Revolution, enlisting from Bucks County, Penn- 
sylvania, August 1, 1776, and again in May, 1777. He fought in the 
battles of Staten Island, Brandywine, Germantown, and was in Washing- 
ton's army. He served under Captains John Jamison, John Thomas, John 
Cope and William Ramsey. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sperry engaged in farming in 
Vermilion County, Illinois, for three years, and they then removed to 
Ogden, where he has since successfully followed the business of contracting 
and building. Mrs. Sperry's father's family consisted of four children, 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 771 

three daughters and one son, and also two half sisters. The brother died- 
at the age of eleven years, his name being William Hayes. The sisters 
were Harriet and Elizabeth and the two half sisters Effie B. and Maryetta. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sperry are the parents of one daughter, Delia Sperry, 
born August 28, 1880. She was graduated with honors from the local 
high school May 10, 1899, and married Cyrus W. McPherren, July 13, 
1905. Mrs. McPherren, through her mother's Revolutionary ancestry, is 
eligible to membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution and 
is a member of the Illinois Alliance, Chapter No. 642, of that order in 
Champaign. Mrs. McPherren has a bright and attractive daughter, Beula, 
now nine years of age and a student in the public schools of Ogden. She 
is still very much interested in her dolls, of which she has a generous 
supply. Her special favorite enjoys the distinctive name of Euodoria. 
Mrs. McPherren is a very capable business woman and is general manager 
of the Ogden Courier and for seven years was assistant postmaster there. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sperry are active members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. In politics he is a Democrat, is a man of broad views, and in 
local affairs supports the man rather than the party. He served eight 
years as police magistrate and for twelve years as justice of the peace and 
was a member of the town board. While giving generously of his time 
and means to every community enterprise Mr. Sperry has been a very 
successful business man. Many fine country homes around and in the 
town of Ogden stand as monuments to his industry. It is often said that 
a tradesman's family are the last to get the benefit of his industry. Thus 
a carpenter's house leaks and a shoemaker's wife goes barefoot. Mr. 
Sperry has reversed that rule. Some years ago on Leney Street, in the 
north end of Ogden, he erected a fine, commodious residence, with every 
modern improvement, including acetylene light. This home is enjoyed 
by his good family, consisting of himself, his wife, daughter and grand- 
daughter, and last but by no means least his dear mother who so faith- 
fully looked after him during his youth and now in the setting sun of her 
life he is repaying some measure of her tender solicitude and care. Mr. 
Sperry is one of the charter members of the Woodmen's lodge of Ogden, 
organized in 1887. 

LEE M. VAN WEGEN is one of Champaign County's well known citizens 
who started life with no particular advantages and assets and by self 
denial, thrift and industry gradually accumulated those means which 
represent financial independence. He was a successful farmer for many 
years, and was also at one time engaged in manufacturing at Champaign. 

Mr. Van Wegen was born in New York State December 1, 1856, a 
son of James S. and Mary E. (Wells) Van Wegen, both of whom were 
natives of Orange County, New York. James S. Van Wegen brought hia 
family to Champaign County in 1868, locating on a farm three and a 
half miles southwest of Champaign. He proved a valuable factor in that 
community and continued farming until within the last two years of his 
life, which he spent in Kansas. Mrs. Mary E. Van Wegen lived to the 
great age of eighty-eight years, passing away January 16, 1917. Their 
nine children were: Horton and Maria, both deceased; Lee M. ; Clarissa, 
deceased; Sidney, a resident of Iowa; Ella and Emma, twins, the latter 
deceased, and the former the wife of Scott Raypholtz, of Medford, Oregon; 
Alexander, deceased; and Louis, of Ashland, Oregon. 

Lee M. Van Wegen was twelve years of age when his parents removed 
to Champaign County. He had acquired some of his education up to 
that time and he also attended the country schools of this county. His 
father's home was also his home until he was twenty-two, and he then 



772 HISTORY- OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

put his experience and training to practical test, married and started a 
home of his own on a rented farm. He followed the plan of renting for 
six years. He and his wife lived frugally and his hard work enabled him 
to accumulate the capital required for the purchase of 160 acres of land. 
That was his first farm, and later he bought another of 160 acres. He sold 
both tracts and subsequently bought a half section of land near the city 
of Champaign, where he accumulated a large portion of his' prosperity. 
Mr. Van Wegen also owns lands in the state of Louisiana. 

In 1892 he retired from the farm to a residence in Champaign. In 
that city he served five years as superintendent of streets. He was also a 
financial and official member of the Champaign Cabinet Company, manu- 
facturing as a specialty a fine type of kitchen cabinet. At the present 
time Mr. Van Wegen finds plenty to do in looking after his private invest- 
ments. 

He was married in February, 1878, to Miss Ella Hammer, a native 
of Bondville, Illinois. They are the parents of two children: Etta is the 
wife of Tony Saunders, of Greenwood, Mississippi, and they have two 
daughters, Madge and Ellen; Nellie is the wife of 0. L. Gearhart, of 
Champaign, and they had one son, Van S. Gearhart, deceased. While 
living in the country Mr. Van Wegen served as supervisor of his town- 
ship one term and was also a road commissioner for six years. He is 
affiliated with the Masonic Lodge and the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks. 

GEORGE W. HERBERT, who is supervisor of Harwood Township, has been 
identified with Champaign County many years, and in the solution of 
the daily problems confronting him has found the opportunities for progress 
to success and prosperity. He is one of the leading farmers and has one 
of the most attractive homes in his township, located in section 36, north 
of Gifford, in Harwood Township. 

Mr. Herbert was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, a son of Eichard 
and Anna (Cox) Herbert. His parents were both born in England and 
their coming to America was their bridal tour. They came to this country 
three weeks after their marriage. For some time they lived in Syracuse, 
New York, and then moved to Illinois. There were eight children, George 
being about midway in age. When he was eight years of age his mother 
died, and he grew up on his father's farm in Vermilion County and 
attended the common schools there. 

In 1894 Mr. Herbert married Catherine Sunderlin. The Sunderlins 
are one of the oldest and best known families of Champaign County. 
Mrs. Herbert was born in Kerr Township of Champaign County,, daughter 
of James and Mary (Hartman) Sunderlin, her father a native of Ireland 
and her mother of Cincinnati, Ohio. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. 
Herbert lived one year in Kerr Township and they then bought 160 acres 
near Gifford in Harwood Township. For this land they paid $70 an 
acre. They began housekeeping in a small home, with meager comforts, 
and the land had no improvements, no drainage and was often covered 
with water in certain seasons of the year. The young people were pos- 
sessed of that "delightful content which the hope of better things inspires 
within," and by sturdy self-denial, by labor year in and year out, they 
have in time perfected their home surroundings and gained such pros- 
perity as few people outside of Champaign County enjoy. They planted 
shade trees, built up a home and barns and other buildings to satisfy 
their needs, and have also acquired additional lands until they now own a 
full half section. 

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert are the parents of James B., George Francis, 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 773 

John Aloysius and Catherine Vivian. These are all true types of American 
children and were educated in the local district schools. James E., after 
finishing the eighth grade, took the course of the Gifford High School, 
where he graduated, and subsequently was a student in the Bourbonnais 
school at Kankakee and from there graduated from the Champaign High 
School. He is a studious youth and has put his education to good advan- 
tage by the practical assistance he renders his father on the farm. The 
other two sons are in the grades of the Gifford school. 

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert are active members of St. Mary's Catholic Church 
at Penfield. In politics he is a Eepublican, and has always been loyal 
to the principles of that great party. His fellow citizens have shown their 
confidence in his judgment and ability by electing him for eight suc- 
cessive years as supervisor and for fourteen years he was school director. 

VIRGIL W. JOHNSTON, banker, with offices at No. 10 Main Street in 
Champaign, has been a resident of this city for the past eighteen years. 

He was born in McLean County, Illinois, March 15, 1871. His father 
James Johnston, a native of Ohio, grew up in Indiana and in 1852 re- 
moved to McLean County, Illinois, bought land from the government, 
developed it as a farm, and lived there prosperous and an influential 
citizen until his death in 1905. He was a Eepublican in politics and a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. James Johnston married 
Eleanor Marrs, who was born in Ohio in 1831, and was a young bride 
when she came to Illinois in 1852. Her death occurred in McLean 
County in 1901. Virgil W. Johnston was one of four children. His 
brother Lucien C. lives at Seward, Nebraska; his brother Alva E. lives at 
Monticello, Indiana; and his brother Milo D. at Olustee, Oklahoma. 

Virgil W. Johnston was educated in country schools, had the environ- 
ment of a typical Illinois farmer boy, and subsequently continued his 
education in the Fairbury High School. He was graduated from the 
Bloomington Law School in 1896. He has given most of his time and 
energies to the abstract business. He was in that business at Pontiac, 
Illinois, from 1896 to 1899, and in the latter year bought the old estab- 
lished abstract business of Colonel Wilcox at Champaign. He still owns 
and directs this abstract office. Since 1902 Mr. Johnston has been iden- 
tified with banking. 

He is a member of the Champaign Club, the Champaign City Club, 
the Elks, and in politics is a Eepublican. On August 3, 1898, at Normal, 
Illinois, he married Vinnie Vennum. 

GEOHGE EGBERT SHAWHAN was for twenty-one years county superin- 
tendent of schools in Champaign County, and in this county, which has 
been his home for over sixty years, he has found ample opportunities for 
a life of quiet usefulness and service. 

He was born at Falmouth, Eush County, Indiana, March 20, 1844. 
His grandfather, John Shawhan, was probably a native of Pennsylvania, 
but was reared in Kentucky and combined his work as a minister of the 
Presbyterian Church with practical farming. He died in Kentucky. He 
married a Miss Flowers, who was born and reared in Virginia. William 
McCune Shawhan, father of George E., was born near Lexington, Ken- 
tucky, grew up in Bourbon County in that state, in 1837 removed to 
Eush County, Indiana, and on April 17, 1856, arrived in Champaign 
County, settling in Section 19 of Eaymond Township. He was a prac- 
tical farmer and also did considerable business as a cattle shipper. He 
lived on his farm in Champaign County until his death. He was attend- 
ing church at Sidney and died without a word during the service on 



774 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

May 5, 1875. He was an active member of the Church of Christ or 
Disciples Church, was a Democrat in politics, and at the time of his death 
was acting as supervisor of Eaymond Township. He married Nancy 
Eedmond, daughter of a Kentucky farmer. She was born on a farm 
near Cynthiana, Kentucky, and was married there in 1837. She died in 
Urbana, December 12, 1893. Her children were six in number, and be- 
sides George E. they were Margaret, Helen, George W., James K. and 
William T. 

George Eobert Shawhan was twelve years of age when he came to 
Champaign County. He attended the common schools both in Indiana 
and Illinois and was also a student in the University of Illinois, but then 
known as the Illinois Industrial University. During his boyhood he 
helped on the farm, but at the age of seventeen began teaching. That 
was his chosen work throughout the subsequent twenty years, and it was 
his experience and qualification as a teacher that caused him to be ap- 
pointed in September, 1881, as county superintendent of schools by the 
board of supervisors of Champaign County. -He held the office by ap- 
pointment one year and was then successively elected five times, filling 
the office from December, 1881, to December, 1902. The efficiency and 
welfare of the, county schools during that period testified to the able work 
of Superintendent Shawhan. Outside of his regular administration his 
chief work while in office was in formulating and establishing a regular 
course of study with township and central examinations for the country 
and village schools. He helped to carry that plan further and in conjunc- 
tion with other superintendents developed a modified plan which was 
adopted for the state. The state superintendent now uses it in his ques- 
tions on pedagogy in all his examinations. Since leaving the county 
superintendency Mr. Shawhan has been manager of the savings depart- 
ment of the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank of Champaign. While his 
life has been without dramatic incident, it has been filled with work and 
has been a means of exceptional service to the community. Mr. Shawhan 
is a member of the Church of Christ and is an elder in the University 
Church of that denomination. He belongs to the Masonic Lodge of 
Urbana and to the Modern Woodmen of America in Champaign. Politi- 
cally he is a Eepublican. 

In Raymond Township of this county, May 12, 1867, he married 
Sarah Vista Brown. They have two children, a daughter, Gertrude, born 
in Urbana, February 8, 1874, and a son, W. Warren, born in Eaymond 
Township, August 9, 1877. The daughter graduated from the University 
of Illinois in literature and science in 1895 and later from the Library 
School of the same institution. She is now the wife of Frank R. Shafer, 
an architect, and they live in Los Angeles, California. Warren Shawhan 
has become a farmer and is now on a farm in Central Louisiana, in Con- 
cordia County, with postoffice at Lismore. 

JAMES M. REESE has been a factor in the business life of the village 
of St. Joseph for nearly thirty years, and has made a success because he 
has given a service a little better than others in the same line and has con- 
stantly striven to please. 

Mr. Eeese was born in that historic section of northwestern Pennsyl- 
vania, Washington County, June 17, 1853, a son of William and Matilda 
(Mikesell) Eeese. His parents were also natives of Pennsylvania. The 
father died in Iowa at the home of his son Henry at the advanced age 
of ninety-two. In 1864, when James M. Eeese was eleven years of age, 
he came with his parents to St. Joseph Township, where his father for a 
number of years worked as a carpenter. There were seven children in 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 775 

the family, James being the oldest. He attended school in Pennsylvania 
and also had one term in the St. Joseph school. When the Eeese family 
came to Champaign County much of the land in St. Joseph Township 
was under water a part of the year, and to establish and maintain a home 
here was a task of many difficulties and hardships. 

James M. Eeese grew up to an industrious manhood, worked in the 
country and for a number of years was connected with a number of drain- 
age projects in St. Joseph Township. In 1888 he established himself in 
the restaurant business at the village of St. Joseph and that has been his 
chief line ever since. He has studied the problems of this business and 
has solved them and has gradually increased his enterprise, not only in 
the way of stock handled but in facilities. He installed a soda fountain, 
has an ice cream parlor, handles candy, cigars, canned and bottled goods, 
and his place is an especially popular and welcome retreat during the 
summer season. 

The profits of his success Mr. Eeese has invested wisely in local real 
estate and has done much to improve the town. He bought a number 
of lots and has erected modern homes in the north part of the town. 

In 1895 Mr. Eeese married Miss Laura B. Cook, a native of Bedford 
County, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Ezekiel and Matilda Cook. She 
was eleven years of age when her parents came to Champaign County 
from Pennsylvania and located at Tolono, where she completed her educa- 
tion in the local schools. Mr. and Mrs. Eeese had two children. The 
older, James Bernard, died at the age of three of infantile paralysis. 
The younger son was named Harry Cook in honor of his mother, and is 
now fourteen years of age. He is a very industrious and studious boy, 
attending the local high school, and is also doing much to develop his 
marked musical talent. He is a student of piano, and is also taking 
instruction in brass band music with the local organization under Pro- 
fessor Canouse of Champaign. He also plays as a member of the Sunday 
school orchestra in the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Mrs. Eeese is a very active member of the Methodist Church and is 
and has been for some years president of the Ladies' Aid Society. She 
is a member of the Eastern Star and has served as marshal of that order. 
In politics Mr. and Mrs. Eeese have opposite affiliations, she being a 
Eepublican and he a Democrat. Mrs. Eeese is a very ardent supporter of 
the cause of temperance. 

The success which he "has enjoyed in a business way Mr. Eeese owes 
not only to his own capable efforts but to the wisdom and counsel of the 
good wife who has stood by his side. They have one of the pleasant and 
hospitable homes of St. Joseph, on Lincoln Street, and while enjoying its 
comforts they may look back with pardonable pride upon the labor of the 
years which has made it all possible. 

ANDREW EKBLAW. For forty-one years Andrew Ekblaw has been a 
resident .of Champaign County. The management and cultivation of the 
land and its resources have furnished him an occupation and business, 
and as a practical agriculturist he has few peers in this part of the state. 

Mr. Ekblaw was born in Sweden in 1854, a son of Johannes and Char- 
lotte Ekblaw. He was reared and educated in his native land and was 
eighteen years of age when with other members of the family he came to 
America in 1872. The Ekblaws first located near Springfield, at New 
Berlin. There were seven children, Andrew being the third in age. All 
these children were educated in the schools of Sweden. 

In 1880 Mr. Andrew Ekblaw married Miss Ingry Johnson, also a native 
of Sweden, and a daughter of John 'and Lena Johnson. When she was 



776 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ten years of age her father died, and two years later, in 1872, she and a 
brother and her widowed mother came to America. Four of the Johnson 
children had preceded them to this country and had found employment in 
Chicago. Mrs. Ekblaw lived in Chicago until her marriage. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ekblaw after their marriage located near Rantoul on 
the farm of John Collison. They were young, energetic, had the thrifty 
virtues of the people of Sweden, and by honesty of purpose have distin- 
guished themselves as successful farmers and have reared a family of 
which any parents might well be proud. It is a growing practice among 
many farmers of modern times to handle land as managers rather than 
as owners. This has been Mr. Ekblaw's course during his long and active 
career. For thirty-two years he lived on the Collison place and for the 
past five years he and his wife have had their home on the Battles place, 
now the property of Lawyer H. I. Green of TTrbana. During his entire 
career in Champaign County since 1876 Mr. Ekblaw has had only two 
places of residence and activity. He is a careful and methodical farmer, 
the well tilled fields giving every evidence of his ability, and his efforts 
have been liberally rewarded in the comfortable provision for themselves 
and in those means necessary to properly educate and train their children. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ekblaw are the parents of six children, five sons and one 
daughter, named Walter Elmer, Carl John Theodore, Emma Irene, Eddie 
Lawrence, George Albert and Sidney Everett. Mr. and Mrs. Ekblaw 
from the start realized the advantage of good educational advantages, and 
sent their children to the district school of Pleasant Ridge. The children 
were all studious and attentive to their work, and all of them finished the 
course of the Pleasant Ridge school. Walter Elmer taught for three years 
at Harwood Center and in the Battles school for three years, after which 
he entered the University of Illinois, taking the regular scientific course 
in three years and two years later received his Master's degree. 

The name of Walter Elmer Ekblaw has perhaps been spoken with 
more frequency in Champaign County in recent months than any other 
one citizen. In fact his fame is well established over the state and nation. 
In 1913, as geologist and chief assistant, he joined the Donald B. Mac- 
Millan Arctic expedition in search of Crocker Land. The University of 
Illinois helped defray the expenses of the expedition, which was fitted out 
chiefly by the American Museum of New York. Mr. Ekblaw was the 
special representative of the state university. The purpose of the expedi- 
tion was to locate the land claimed to have been discovered by Admiral 
Peary. In this they were disappointed and when the expedition returned 
in 1917 the announcement was given the world that Crocker Land was a 
"mirage." Early in September, 1917, Mr. Ekblaw arrived at Champaign, 
having come post haste to his old home and his alma mater after getting 
off the boat at Sydney, Cape Breton Island. He was accorded an enthu- 
siastic reception both at the university and in his home town of Rantoul 
and was paid such honors as few men of Champaign County have ever 
received. It is noteworthy that even the newspapers of the large cities, 
so completely filled in these days with war news, devoted a column or so 
to the arrival of the distinguished young explorer. The Chicago Tribune 
of September llth reported Mr. Ekblaw as saying in part: "While we 
were disappointed because Crocker Land, in whose existence Admiral Peary 
believed, turned out to be a mirage, we felt that the expedition accom- 
plished a great deal. At times we were confronted with the hardest of 
difficulties, but in some way succeeded in getting around them. We did 
not find the life so hard, however, after we became acquainted with the 
conditions and ways of the country and people. 

"The expedition left New York and went from there to Sydney, Cape 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 777 

Breton Island, where we were unable to proceed on account of our ship 
being wrecked. We fitted out another ship and the expedition again set 
out. This time we reached Greenland. It was along the last of August 
and by the latter part of September we had established our headquarters 
at a little village called Etah. Here we had built a house and other neces- 
sary buildings. 

"The longest trip that I ever made was 1,200 miles. We discovered 
and explored three new fjords, after which we returned to our camp. All 
the time we were in Greenland we were about 750 miles from the North 
Pole, and the closest that I ever got to the pole was about 500 miles." 

"Ekblaw," continues the Tribune account, "was a member of the Illi- 
nois football squad in his college days, and when he went North he put a 
football in his kit. This resulted in the organization by the scientist of 
the first Eskimo football team in history. 'My quarterback could not see 
over the center's head and all my men were built close to the ground,' 
said the explorer. They had a fine disdain for the rules and used to pile 
up promiscuously, but they had a. good working knowledge of the object 
of the game and liked to play it on the ice.' 

"Just before Ekblaw sailed for the polar regions his engagement to 
Miss Augusta May Krieger of Peoria, a graduate of the University of 
Illinois, then teaching in Highland Park, was announced. Miss Krieger 
agreed to wait and she was on the dock at New York to welcome her 
fiance." 

The second son of Mr. Andrew Ekblaw, Carl Ekblaw, graduated from 
the Rantoul High School, taught for two years at Prairie Star school and 
has since taken his master's degree at the University of Illinois and for a 
time was an instructor there. In 1916 he completed further studies in 
Yale University. At the present writing he is professor of rural archi- 
tecture in the Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas. 
Carl married Miss Alma Heuman of Elgin, Illinois, also a graduate of 
the university. The only daughter, Emma, is still at home with her 
mother. The son Eddie is his father's active assistant in the manage- 
ment of the farm. The fifth child, George, is a graduate of the Rantoul 
High School, taught two years at Wesley Chapel and also at Battles school, 
and entered the University of Illinois in the fall of 1917. The youngest 
child, Sidney, now fourteen, has completed the work of the grammar 
schools and is in the Rantoul High School. It is a source of pride not 
only to the parents but to all the people of Champaign County that the 
Ekblaw sons have so distinguished themselves in the work of teaching, 
scholarship and practical affairs. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ekblaw are active members of the Lutheran Church at 
Paxton, still retaining the faith in which they were reared in the father- 
land. Mr. Ekblaw is a Republican in politics. 

ALBA J. FLATT. In a business way Mr. Flatt has been most prom- 
inently known in the community of Leverett in Champaign County, whern 
he has the finest grain elevator in this section of the state and where for 
many years he has been the active medium through which an important 
bulk of the local grain production has been marketed. Mr. Flatt in 
recent years has had his home in the city of Champaign. 

While a resident of Champaign County most of his life, Mr. Flatt 
was born near Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, July 6, 1863. His parents, 
James H. and Matilda L. (Campbell) Flatt, both natives of Canada, came 
to Champaign County in 1865, and both lived here the rest of their days. 
The father died in July, 1908, and the mother in June, 1912. James H. 
Flatt was for many years a well known farmer in Champaign County. 



778 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

They were the parents of eight children : Charlotte, wife of William Whitt- 
more, of Emporia, Kansas; Silas Edgar, who died at the age of eighteen; 
Ormond B., of Champaign ; Alba J. ; Carrie, wife of L. S. Rupert, of 
Blocmington, Illinois; Annie L., deceased; George J. of Champaign; and 
Ira J. W., of Denver, Colorado. 

Alba J. Flatt grew up on the home farm in Champaign County, 
attended the local schools, and at the age of twenty-one began helping his 
father in the management of the large farm of four hundred eighty-seven 
acres near Leverett. He assumed most of the responsibilities connected 
with this place until he was married, and he then bought eighty acres for 
himself. From farming Mr. Flatt gradually enlarged his range of activi- 
ties and in 1895 engaged in the general merchandise and grain business 
at Leverett. He has built two elevators in that town, and the second one 
is the best equipped structure of the kind in the central part of the state. 
He still continues his mercantile operations at Leverett under the firm 
name of A. J. Flatt & Son. 

Mr. Flatt married January 5, 1887, Miss Mary F. Irle, a native of 
Champaign County. They have three children: Pearl L., wife of L. W. 
Roberts, of Leverett; Ross A., associated in business with his father as 
senior member of the firm A. J. Flatt & Son ; and Nellie I. 

In 1910 Mr. Flatt removed to Champaign and has since occupied his 
fine home at 1102 West Church Street. He has served as alderman from 
his home ward, and while living in the country was honored with several 
townsiiip offices. Mr. Flatt has attained the Scottish Rite Consistory 
degrees in Masonry and is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and 
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, and his church home is the Presbyterian. 

BENJAMIN H. McKiNSEY is one of the younger business element of 
Champaign, a vigorous and progressive citizen and a man who makes good 
his promises and professions at whatever cost or sacrifice to himself. 

He was born in Urbana, August 21, 1888, son of Jacob and Mary E. 
(Young) McKinsey. His father was born at Antioch, Indiana, while his 
mother is a native of Leverett, Champaign County. Jacob McKinsey 
came to Champaign County about 1886, locating at Urbana, and for a 
number of years was an agent for Cole Brothers, lightning rod manu- 
facturers. He continued a resident of Urbana until his death in 1896. 

The only child of his parents, Benjamin H. McKinsey had the advan- 
tages of the common schools and early sought a means of earning his own 
living. In 1906, at the age of eighteen, he went with the Champaign 
Gas Company and worked as a gas fitter about two years. Another two 
years he was employed in Urbana as a boiler maker helper. Mr. McKinsey 
then entered the establishment of Mr. A. Peters, and for the past eight 
years has been in his employ. 

On December 23, 1909, he married Miss Stacia Hall, a native of 
Champaign. They have one child, Lawrence. Mr. McKinsey is a Demo- 
crat and has served as alderman from the First Ward. He has always 
been interested in politics and has served three years as democratic com- 
mitteeman. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic lodge. 

WILLIAM J. DOWNING is one of the men of strength and successful 
record as a farmer in Ogden Township, and his name has also been iden- 
tified with that locality in a civic way. 

He was born in Ogden Township, a son of Alvin and Serene (Hayden) 
Downing. His parents were natives of Indiana. Mr. Downing was one 
of two children, his only sister dying in infancy. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 779 

Mr. Downing received his education in the Ogden schools and at the 
age of twenty-three he married Miss Cora Freeman. She was also born 
in Ogden Township, a daughter of Edmond Freeman and member of one 
of the pioneer families of Champaign County. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Downing settled on eighty acres 
in section 17 of Ogden Township, a place belonging to Edmond Freeman. 
This has been developed as their permanent home. Four children were 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Downing, one of whom died in infancy. The other 
three are Chester, Verna and Virginia. Chester and Verna are of school 
age and are bright and intelligent students in the Ogden schools. In 
October, 1915, Mr. Downing was bereft of his beloved companion and 
wife, who died after an illness of six weeks. Thus left alone Mr. Downing 
has continued to live on the home place and has kept his children with him 
and is carefully directing their education and training. 

Mr. Downing is an attendant of the Christian Church of Ogden and 
his wife was a member of the same denomination. He was reared a 
Republican and has always voted that ticket and fraternally is identified 
with the Knights of Pythias. He is a very successful farmer, raising 
large crops of oats, corn and wheat and is giving much attention to live 
stock. His record is that of a worthy and honorable citizen, one who 
enjoys a large circle of friends, and his name stands high among the men 
of Champaign County. 



CHABLES E. KELLER. The position of court stenographer is 
which calls for speed and accuracy in execution and intense concentra- 
tion of mind. The records of the testimony taken in court are too im- 
portant in character to be handled in any slip-shod manner, and the 
individuals designated for this kind of work are therefore chosen for their 
reliability and fidelity as well as for their intelligence and mere physical 
attributes. The court reporter of the Circuit Court of Champaign County, 
Charles E. Keller, has been the incumbent of his present position since 
1915 and his skill and exactness have gained him the approbation of the 
bench and bar. He is an alert and reliable young man, and as he is a 
product of Champaign County the people here have watched his advance- 
ment with interest. 

Mr. Keller was born on a farm in Scott Township, Champaign County, 
Illinois, December 3, 1889, being a son of Peter and Ella Belle (Flowers) 
Keller. His father, a native of Hocking County, Ohio, came to Cham- 
paign County when a young man, and here adopted the vocation of farm- 
ing, which he followed for many years, or until his retirement. He was 
industrious and enterprising and developed a handsome property in the 
vicinity of Bondville, but the accumulation of a competence made it un- 
necessary for him to labor any more and he is now living in comfort at his 
home in that village. Mrs. Keller, who also survives, is a native of 
Champaign County. There were two children in the family : Charles E. ; 
and Bessie Opal, who is unmarried and resides with her parents. The 
parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Charles E. Keller's boyhood home was in the vicinity of Bondville, 
and the schools of that place furnished him with his preliminary educa- 
tion. He was reared on the farm and trained in the matters that go to 
make up the skilled husbandman, but like many other farmers' sons be- 
fore him he answered the call of the city, and in order to train himself 
for a career in the busy, energetic life of the larger centers pursued a 
course in bookkeeping and stenography at the Brown Business College at 
Champaign. When he had completed his studies there, Mr. Keller secured 
a position in the office of Judge Boggs, of Champaign, with whom 'he re- 



780 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

mained from July, 1908, until 1915, in which latter year he was ap- 
pointed to his present position. As before noted, he has "made good" 
in the official capacity of Circuit Court stenographer, and has made numer- 
ous friends among the officials and attaches of the Court House at 
Urbana, where his office is located. 

Mr. Keller was married October 4, 1911, at Champaign, to Miss Ethel 
Matilda Rayburn, who was born in Champaign County, and they are the 
parents of three children: Ernestine, born July 25, 1912; and Charles 
Irwin and Chester Edwin, twins, born July 20, 1916. Mr. Keller main- 
tains an independent stand in politics. He is a Mason and a Pythian 
Knight, and he and Mrs. Keller belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church 
at TJrbana. 

MOHTIMER KILBURY of St. Joseph is an old-time resident of Champaign 
County, having been identified with the cultivation of its soil and the 
management of increasing burdens of business and public life for over 
forty years. 

Mr. Kilbury was born at Darby Plains, Ohio, a son of Asa G. and 
Ruth (Clark) Kilbury. The Kilbury family were Colonial settlers in 
Vermont. They started West about the time of the beginning of western 
migration in the early part of the nineteenth century. They drove to 
Ohio in covered wagons. There were two brothers making this journey, 
one of them the father of Asa Kilbury. One morning after breaking up 
their night camp one of the brothers hitched up and started on ahead, 
driving along until he came to a fork in the roads, where he took one 
route. His brother followed him somewhat later, and after making a 
careful examination decided that his brother had taken the road to the 
right, whereas, as a matter of fact, it was the left road. He drove on, and, 
thus separated, they continued their journeys and never met again. 

Asa G. Kilbury was born June 24, 1806. He grew up in Ohio, and 
when he started out for himself he gave his father all the money he pos- 
sessed, reserving only $1 as a luck piece. He settled at Darby Plains, 
Ohio, where he married Ruth Clark and as farmers they acquired a large 
amount of property. Asa Kilbury died January 5, 1884, and his wife, who 
was born February 27, 1815, died September 20, 1885. They were the 
parents of six sons and three daughters. 

Mortimer Kilbury received his early education in Ohio and came to 
Champaign County in the spring of 1873, when a young man, locating 
in section 31 of Ogden Township. Here he and his brother James S. 
worked land which had been previously bought by their father from the 
Government at $1.25 an acre. It was an extensive tract and the two 
brothers did much to improve it and make a fine farm of the land. 

On September 23, 1877, Mortimer Kilbury laid the foundation of his 
own home by his marriage to Mary Louise Frederick, who was born in 
Vermilion County, near Fithian, Illinois. Her parents were Richard A. 
and Parmelia (Allhands) Frederick. Mrs. Kilbury with her brothers and 
sisters attended the Central district school. She was one of a family of 
four sons and five daughters. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kilbury located on the farm where 
Mr. Kilbury had been previously employed, and they continued to reside 
there for a number of years and laid the foundation of their permanent 
prosperity. After the death of Mr. Kilbury's father in 1884 the son 
inherited a part of the land and gradually he expanded the scope of his 
holdings and his operations as a farmer and stockman. 

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Kilbury were born six children, named 
A?a, Edna, Fred, Mabel, Winifred and Jeannette. Mr. and Mrs. Kilbury 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 781 

have devoted themselves to the proper rearing and training of their chil- 
dren. They sent them to the district schools and also to the St. Joseph 
High School, all of them graduating from high school. The sons were 
students in the University of Illinois and one of the daughters, Mabel, 
attended Northwestern University at Evanston. Winifred was a student 
in the Champaign High School and also the Academy at Evanston. The 
daughter Jeannette was graduated with honors from the Urbana High 
School with the class of 1917, having taken all her four years' work in 
that school and having gone back and forth from home to school on the 
interurban car morning and evening, rain or shine. She is now teaching 
the Shilo school. 

The son Fred Kilbury is a farmer of St. Joseph Township and married 
Inez Mullen. The son Asa, a resident of St. Joseph, married Edna Norris 
of Frankfort, Indiana, and they have a son, Winston N., a manly youth, 
now numbered among the bright and promising students of the St. Joseph 
High School. The daughter Winifred married Raymond Jones, an archi- 
tect practicing his profession at Danville, and they have two sons, Robert 
Kilbury and Raymond Grant. The daughter Edna died at the age of 
eight and a half months. The daughter Mabel, whose death in 1914 was 
a heavy loss to the family and her many friends, while a student in 
college, met Rev. Arthur A. Halter, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and they were afterwards married and she left a daughter, Mabel 
Rachel. Mrs. Halter was a fine Christian character, active in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and a large community of friends felt that in her loss 
the old saying that death loves a shining mark was again corroborated. 

For many years Mr. Kilbury has found himself profitably and pleasantly 
engaged in the varied pursuits of farming and stock husbandry. A num- 
ber of years ago he established a herd of Shorthorn cattle and exhibitors 
at county and state fairs have long known his prize winning stock. He 
has been awarded numerous premiums, and he produced one fine steer that 
weighed 2,380 pounds. 

A number of years ago Mr. Kilbury bought 130 acres of land adjacent 
to the village of St. Joseph and at the end of North Main Street erected 
a commodious and attractive residence, where the family have long had 
their home. This house, which combines the advantages of both town 
and country, has been greatly beautified in its surroundings by the planting 
of fruit and shade trees and careful cultivation with a view to adornment 
and utility. Mr. and Mrs. Kilbury are attentive members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church at St. Joseph and he has served as a trustee of the 
church. One of his first important efforts in behalf of community 
improvement was to secure a division of the school district and he donated 
land from his own place as a school site. He has been elected to and 
has served in some of those offices which are a mark of public confidence 
and esteem and are an opportunity for much hard and conscientious work 
with no remuneration. He has served as school director, and is a stanch 
Republican in politics. He grew to young manhood when the Republican 
party was in its prime and the vitality it showed in grasping and solving 
many great national problems inspired a confidence which has caused him 
to keep firmly aligned within the party ranks. Fraternally he is a 
Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and his wife is a member of the 
Eastern Star. Mrs. Kilbury has served as associate matron and at present 
is treasurer of the Eastern Star. She is active in the Woman's Club of 
St. Joseph and in the Foreign Missionary Society of her church. Mr. 
Kilbury has been fortunate in having a good wife to stand by his side 
forty years, aiding him in counsel and advice, and carefully looking after 
the rearing of their family and the making of their home. 

217 



782 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

CHARLES ZILLT. One of* the men whose sterling character, energy 
and industry have given an enviable prominence to Champaign as a com- 
mercial and financial center of Illinois is Mr. Charles Zilly, of the firm of 
Zilly & McKinley, mortgage loans, and who has been a resident of Cham- 
paign since 1890. His home has been in Illinois for more than half a 
century, and he is a veteran of an Illinois regiment in the Civil War. 

Mr. Zilly is the example of a poor boy coming from a foreign land and 
eventually attaining and filling an honorable place in the business life of 
Champaign. He was born in Switzerland, February 11, 1842, a son of 
Frederick and Elizabeth Zilly. Both parents died during his early boy- 
hood. 

After having had some of the advantages of the schools of Switzer- 
land, Charles Zilly at the age of fourteen immigrated to America. He 
was practically alone when he came and for the first year and a half he 
lived with some relatives in the East. From there he came West to 
Illinois, and while earning his living in the summer by farm work he 
made up for his earlier deficiencies in the way of an education and es- 
pecially for his lack of fluency in the English language by attending 
school in winter seasons. While in school one winter he fell and broke 
his leg, an accident which disabled him for farm work. In consequence 
he removed to Chandlerville, Illinois, and was employed in mercantile lines 
until 1861. 

Though a foreigner by birth, Charles Zilly lacked nothing of the 
patriotism of the true American, and soon after the Civil War broke out 
in 1861 he was enrolled in Company E of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry. He 
was with that gallant organization throughout most of the entire war. 
He rose to the rank of adjutant and was finally given an honorable dis- 
charge in 1865. 

After the war, in 1867, Mr. Zilly became identified with a private 
bank, which afterward became the First National Bank of Petersburg, 
Illinois, and was with that institution for a period of twenty years. His 
financial judgment brought him other interests and he became associ- 
ated with J. B. and W. B. McKinley, interested in Western loans, and has 
since been a member of the firm of Zilly & McKinley, loan brokers. 

Mr. Zilly was elected president of the first Anti-License Board at 
Petersburg, Illinois, when residing there. He is a Republican in politics, 
an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic and affiliated with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1865, soon after the close of 
the war, he married in Chandlerville, Illinois, Emma Rickard. She died 
February 13, 1872, and the one child of the union, Carroll K., now lives 
at Portland, Oregon. On February 12, 1874, Mr. Zilly and Miss Helen L. 
McKinley were married in Petersburg, Illinois. Five children have been 
born to their marriage: Mabel H., wife of L. H. Hamilton, of Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania ; Fred McKinley Zilly, of Portland, Oregon ; Alice, deceased ; 
Marie Louise Zilly; and Agnes Elizabeth, wife of F. E. Berger, of 
Davenport, Iowa. 

WILLIAM H. SMITH, who owns and occupies one of the beautiful and 
attractive country homes near Urbana, represents one of the oldest and 
most prominent pioneer families of this county. 

Here Mr. Smith was born July 22, 1844, a son of Jacob and Margaret J. 
(Beattie) Smith. His father was a native of Shelby County, Kentucky, 
and his mother of Virginia. Margaret Beattie went to Kentucky with 
her parents at the age of eight years, and somewhat later the family went 
on to Missouri. While en route through that state they were both taken 
ill, and both died near Jefferson City. They were survived by seven 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 783 

children, who then had to shift for themselves. Margaret Beattie grew 
up almost among strangers, and after her marriage to Jacob Smith they 
migrated to Illinois with the Webber family and the family of Stephen 
Boyd. 

It was about 1833 that the Smith family came into Champaign County. 
That was a very early year in the history of this county, and they located 
on land now included in TJrbana Township. At that time the town of 
Urbana did not exist. Jacob Smith went to Danville to enter more than 
t!00 acres of land, at the regular Government price of $1.25 per acre. He 
was a man of unusual industry and business ability and acquired a large 
estate. He and his wife had ten children, two of whom died in infancy. 
The others received their education in the district school known as the 
Bromley School No. 4, and grew to maturity, married and settled down, 
the sons becoming progressive farmers and men of recognized ability and 
success. 

William H. Smith grew up in Champaign County and remained at 
home assisting in the management of his father's farm for a number of 
years. On August 22, 1880, he laid the foundation of his own home by 
his marriage to Miss Emma Elder. Mrs. Smith was born at Decatur in 
Brown County, Ohio, daughter of Eobert and Elizabeth (Mattox) Elder, 
her father a native of Pennsylvania and her mother of Ohio. Mrs. Smith 
was one of nine children. When she was a small child her parents moved 
to Illinois and settled near the Star schoolhouse. In that school Mrs. Smith 
obtained her first instruction, beginning to attend when only five years of 
age. Her sister Bell Elder qualified as a teacher in Champaign County at 
the age of sixteen and for a number of terms taught school. 

After the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Smith they decided to establish 
themselves in a comparatively new country and went to the State of 
Texas, locating in one of the rugged and semi-mountainous districts of 
that great state. There Mr. Smith took up the sheep industry for ten 
years and at times had a flock of 1,500. He also engaged in the cattle 
business, the open range affording a fine opportunity for grazing. Mr. 
and Mrs. Smith lived in Texas for about twenty-five years. In the mean- 
time nine children were born to them, named Grace, Elizabeth, Ruby, 
Willie, Mervin, Mada, Robert, Fred and Erma. The children Mada and 
Robert died in infancy. The others obtained their first advantages in the 
public schools of Texas and were then sent North to complete their training 
in the TTrbana High School. It is an interesting fact that Professor J. W. 
Hayes, the venerable educator, was not only one of Mrs. Smith's instructors 
but also taught some of her children. At the present time Fred Smith is 
a student in the University of Illinois, while Erma is in the Urbana High 
School. The other children are all established in homes of their own. 

Grace Smith married Sidney Prince, who is a contractor and builder 
at Fisher, Illinois. Their two children are Sidney and Nellie. Elizabeth 
Smith is the wife of E. J. Dunn, a farmer living at Urbana and their four 
children are Clyde, Louis, Emma and Roy. Ruby Smith married J. R.. 
Saddler, a farmer at Ames, Iowa. They have two children, Frances and 
Henry. The daughter Willie married Ralph Dunn, and they live on a 
farm near the Smith homestead. Their four children are Frank, Ruth, 
Ralph and Wilma. Mervin Smith married Verna Johnson and has one 
daughter, Laura Emma. 

About thirteen years ago Mr. and Mrs. Smith returned from Texas 
to the scenes of their early youth. In the meantime Mr. Smith had 
acquired 300 acres of Illinois farm land. On returning to Champaign 
County he located on a farm of 100 acres east of Urbana. Mr. Smith 
bought this land a number of years ago at prices ranging from $40 to $75 



784 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

an acre. When he acquired it the land had no improvements, and eighty 
acres was a continuous grass sod. He has used time and means in devel- 
oping it, has added many fruit and shade trees, and has a commodious 
residence situated on a slight eminence, surrounded by a fine grove of 
stately trees. 

Mr. Smith is an ardent Democrat, and believes that President Wilson 
is the man of the hour and has the ability and the wisdom to bring- the ship 
of state out of troubled waters. 

The Smith farm is a place of much interest from an archaeological 
standpoint. At one time an Indian village stood on the land. Indian 
arrowheads have been picked up from the ground, and in a hollow are 
found many wild cucumber vines which competent authorities say the 
Indians planted. Mr. Smith has in his possession a fine specimen of 
Indian whetstone. It was made from a piece of petrified hickory wood, 
and through the center is bored a hole, through which a buckskin thong 
was strung so as to make it more convenient to carry. 

SAMUEL B. VARNEY. As told on other pages of this work, the found- 
ing and early growth of Champaign was largely due to the construction of 
the Illinois Central Eailway. One of the first active settlers in the com- 
munity was Samuel B. Varney, a pioneer whose influence did much for 
Champaign in its formative stages and whose name is one to be spoken with 
respect and cherished with honor. He died when Champaign was sHU a 
small and struggling town, and the only one of his children still living is 
Mrs. L. V. Crane, who resides at 412 West Church Street in Champaign. 

The late Samuel B. Varney was born in Albion, Maine, April 27, 1812. 
He spent many years in his native state, engaged in farming, in the stren- 
uous endeavor to coax a living from the rocky soil, and was also a mer- 
chant, manufacturer and hotel proprietor. When the Illinois Central 
Eailway was built large bodies of land were granted to the company as a 
bonus, and the company sold this land to investors in many parts of the 
country. One of the buyers was Samuel B. Varney, who acquired a 
quarter section four miles from the then new town of Champaign. After 
making this investment Mr. Varney came to Illinois in 1859, when the 
railroad had just been completed, and at the same time he bought four 
lots in the J. P. White Addition, the first addition made to the town 
of Champaign. On one of those lots he erected his home in 1859, 
and that old residence is still standing as a landmark of the larger 
city which has grown up around it. Mr. Varney was in a position to 
take advantage of the many opportunities then existing in Champaign 
County, and he not only acquired large property interests, but also did 
much to improve the city of Champaign. He was especially interested 
in the West Side Park, helped to plant many trees, and in other ways 
beautify the new town. 

He lived only about a half dozen years in Champaign. His death 
occurred in the city of Chicago, at the home of his daughter Mrs. Crane, 
November 19, 1866. He had gone to Chicago for medical treatment, but 
did not survive. 

Mr. Varney married in 1833 Miss Sarah Pierson, who was born in 
Montsville, Maine, but was a resident of Bangor at the time of her mar- 
riage. She died in Maine in 1844. In 1845 Samuel R. Varney married 
Lucy J. White, who died at Champaign in 1895. Samuel B. Varney 
was the father of eight children. His son Charles P. Varney, who died 
in 1900, made a record as a soldier in the Civil War, being a surgeon 
with the Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantry for four years, and afterward 
served as revenue collector in Georgia. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 785 

Mrs. Lauzarah V. Crane, the only living child of the late Samuel B. 
Varney, was born at the old Varney home at South Levant, Maine, 
October 19, 1835. She now owns and occupies the old homestead ac- 
quired and improved by her father in 1859. She came out to Champaign 
with her father and was then twenty-four years of age. She had been 
liberally educated and was one of the first teachers in the public schools 
of Champaign. On August 26, 1863, she married Archibald M. Crane, of 
Chicago. Mr. Crane died in Livingstone County, Illinois, in 1879. In 
1894 Mrs. Crane returned to her old home in Champaign and has lived 
here ever since. Mr. Crane was a member of the Masonic Order and was 
active in the Presbyterian Church.' 

Mrs. Crane became the mother of six children, the two youngest dying 
in infancy. Edward S. is now a resident of Cleveland, Ohio; Charles M., 
of Chicago; Jonah, of Hartford, Connecticut; and Lauzara B. is the wife 
of Lee C. Emerson, of Champaign. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN McGATH is one of the old-timers in Champaign 
County, and has witnessed its growth and development since 1861, the 
same year that he went out to do service as a Union soldier. He made a 
creditable record in the army and his entire life has been a record of 
patriotic devotion and duties worthily and successfully performed. 

His birth occurred in Vermilion County, Indiana, March 15, 1841. 
He is the only survivor of a family of ten children, six sons and four 
daughters, born to William and Nancy (Fannon) McGath. He was the 
eighth in order of birth. His father was born near Wilmington, Ohio, 
grew up and received his education there and also married in Ohio and 
went across the country in pioneer style to Indiana and settled on a farm 
in Vermilion County in the valley of the Wabash Eiver. His death 
occurred there about 1847 and he was one of the pioneers in that section. 
He was a Jeffersonian Democrat and he and his wife were active Methodists. 
His wife was born in Ohio and was of German ancestry. She was a kind 
and loving mother, and after her husband's death she lived for sixteen 
years at the home of her son Benjamin, and her death occurred in 1900. 
She was laid to rest at Mansfield. 

Benjamin F. McGath grew up in Indiana, acquired a common school 
education, and came to Illinois when twenty years of age. He had been 
here only a short time when he enlisted in the Second Illinois Cavalry 
under Colonel Berry. He was trained and equipped in the Springfield 
barracks, and was never called into active service during his first four 
months' term of enlistment. After that he did some recruiting and then 
joined the Seventy-first Eegiment of Illinois Infantry. This regiment 
became a part of the Army of the Tennessee under General Grant, and 
he performed his duties as a soldier in several of the memorable campaigns 
of the Mississippi Valley. He was present at the battles of Corinth and luka 
and was finally mustered out and received his honorable discharge at Mat- 
toon, Illinois. 

Mr. McGath made his material success in life as the result of hard 
work and persistent energy. As a young man he worked as a farm hand 
at $15 a month. Farming has always been his active pursuit and from 
the soil he has gathered sufficient wealth to provide for his family and for 
his own needs. In Champaign County he had accumulated a farm of 
eighty acres, but in 1873 he sold out and moved to Kansas, buying a half 
section of 320 acres in Russell County. His move to Kansas was an unfor- 
tunate one, since it took him into the state during the period when Kansas 
was scourged by grasshoppers, persistent drought and every other vicissi- 
tude known to a farming population. The five years he spent there he 



786 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

raised only one satisfactory crop. Finally selling his land, he returned to 
Champaign County, soon afterward removed to Vermilion County, Illinois, 
but for the greater part of his active career was a farmer in Champaign 
County. 

On July 3, 1873, the same year that he moved out to Kansas, Mr. 
McGath married Miss Permilla Jane Kilgore. Five children were born 
to their marriage, three sons and two daughters, and four are still living. 
Clella C., the oldest, is the wife of J. C. Herriott, and their home is at 
LaJara, Colorado. Mr. Herriott is a farmer and a barber. They have 
a daughter, Fay. Clella is an active member of the Methodist Church 
and received her education in the Mahomet High School and for a time 
taught in Vermilion County. Eoyal K., the oldest son, is also a resident 
of LaJara, Colorado, and is a barber running a shop with his brother-in- 
law. He was educated in the Mahomet High School, is a Republican 
in politics, and married Miss Katie Brown. Bertie, the third child, is 
a practical agriculturist at Lynne, Illinois, and has made a success as 
manager of a large farm of 320 acres. He was educated in the common 
schools, is a Republican and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, 
and he and his wife are active Methodists. He married Miss Carrie 
Moore, and their children are named Cleo, Lloyd and Opal. Mary A., 
the youngest child, is the wife of Edgar Moore, also a farmer, and they 
reside at East Lynne. Their children are Glenn and Bennie Guy. They 
are members of the Methodist Church. 

The record of their children is one that Mr. and Mrs. McGath may 
review with pride and satisfaction. Mrs. McGath was born in White 
County, Indiana, January 22, 1848, and represents a family of early 
settlers in that section' of Indiana. Her parents were John C. and Mar- 
garet (Carr) Kilgore. Her father was born in Indiana in 1813, three 
years before Indiana was admitted to the Union, and he died in 1892. 
He was a practical farmer, and moved to Mahomet, Illinois, when Mrs. 
McGath was ten months old. Her mother was also a native of Indiana 
and died when Mrs. McGath was five years old. In their family were 
six sons and six daughters, three now living. Mrs. McGath's sister Mary 
is a member of the Methodist Church and is married and lives in Liv- 
ingston, Illinois. Her other sister, Silance, lives at Ogden, Illinois, the 
widow of William Hubbard, and she is also an active Methodist. Mrs. 
McGath was educated in the common schools and with her husband is a 
loyal and devout member of the Methodist Church. She has made her 
home a place of hospitality and has always been devoted to her children 
and her many friends. Mr. and Mrs. McGath now have a comfortable 
residence east of Mahomet on a tract of six acres, which furnishes them a 
beautiful environment for their declining years and also plenty of activity. 
Mr. McGath is a Republican and has given his zealous support to the 
public schools. Mr. and Mrs. McGath in their later years have made 
several trips to the far West, including Colorado, and have wisely and 
judiciously used the means accumulated by a lifetime of earnest effort 
and toil. 

CHESTER D. BROWNELL is president of the Reliable Plumbing and 
Heating Company of Champaign. His career, which has been known to 
the people of this locality since he was a boy, has not been one of spectacu- 
lar success, but a slow and steady progress from minor duties and responsi- 
bilities to something better and larger, and from an employe he became 
an employer, and is now at the head of a business second to none in 
efficiency and facilities in the county. 

Mr. Brownell has been a resident of Champaign nearly all his life, but 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 787 

was born in Chautauqua County, New York, April 10, 1873. His parents 
were Oliver D. and Lucy A. (Sabin) Brownell, also natives of Chautauqua 
County, New York. His father was a soldier in the Civil War and subse- 
quently a conductor with the Erie Railway Company. In 1876 he re- 
moved to Champaign and engaged in the implement business with his 
brother-in-law, C. J. Sabin. He maintained an active connection with that 
firm until 1895, when he retired. He also served as chief of police of 
Champaign under Mayor Sabin and also during Mayor Woody's adminis- 
tration. He was a highly esteemed citizen and is still well remembered in 
the community. His death occurred April 11, 1905. His widow is still 
living in Champaign. Chester D. Brownell is their only son, and their 
only daughter, Pearl, is the wife of E. G. Greenman, of Champaign. 

Chester D. Brownell was fortunate in his environment and the magnifi- 
cent educational opportunities he enjoyed as a boy. He attended the public 
schools and also had about three years in the chemistry department of the 
University of Illinois. His first employment was as a bill clerk with the 
American Express Company, where he remained three years. In 1897 he 
became identified with the F. K. Robson department store, and for eight 
years was in the carpet and upholstery department. His experience and 
thorough knowledge of the business brought him an offer, which he accepted, 
to open the carpet department in the store of W. Lewis & Company, where 
he remained a year. From that he acquired an interest in a business of his 
own in the plumbing and heating department of Walsh, Heuck & Company. 
In 1905 Mr. Brownell organized the present business of the Reliable 
Plumbing and Heating Company, his former associate being Pearl Fisher. 
Subsequently Mr. Fisher sold his interests to Mr. E. G. Greenman, who is 
secretary and treasurer and Mr. Brownell is president of the corporation. 

He was the first master of the Plumbers Association of Champaign, 
and for five years served as vice-president of the Illinois Master Plumbers 
Association. He has had some active part in local affairs, and for six 
years represented his ward on the board of aldermen. He is a member of 
the Champaign Chamber of Commerce, of which body he is president. He 
is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Sons of Veterans, and is a 
member of the Christian Science Church. Mr. Brownell's present public 
service is being given as a member of the board of education. In politics 
he is a Republican. 

On June 8, 1896, he married Miss Maud Riffenberick, a native of 
Champaign. They are the parents of four children : Richard and Dean, 
twins, the former now deceased ; Marion ; and Chester, Jr. 

Lucius NOTES SIZER was a member of the firm Sizer Brothers, com- 
prising himself and his brother Oscar Bertrand Sizer, proprietors of the 
Maple Lawn Stock Farm in Newcomb Township. Both brothers became 
too well known to require any extended introduction. They proved them- 
selves capable as farmers, stock raisers, business men and in every rela- 
tionship of life. 

Of the two brothers, Lucius Noyes Sizer was born in Kankakee County, 
Illinois, November 15, 1860. His brother Oscar Bertrand was born in 
Champaign County, December 29, 1863. His birth occurred on the farm 
where he now resides. He is the only survivor of seven children, four sons 
and three daughters, born to Albert Dann and Mary (Noyes) Sizer. 

Mr. Bert Sizer was educated in the Mahomet public schools and ac- 
quired the equivalent of a high school training. His life has throughout 
been devoted to farming and Champaign County has always been his 
home. His wife, now deceased, bore the maiden name of Emma Judy. 
Bert Sizer is a Republican, served as road commissioner six years and 



788 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

as supervisor of Newcomb Township four years. He is a member of the 
Elks Lodge at Champaign and belongs to the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal 
Church in Newcomb Township. 

The two brothers acquired an estate of two hundred forty acres in 
Newcomb Township. The Sizer Brothers gave several years to the breed- 
ing of English Shire horses. Some of the finest animals of this class in 
the Middle West have been raised under their supervision. Their fine 
stock has been awarded many first prizes, trophies and gold medals, their 
trophy exhibition containing twenty-five silver trophies, three gold medals, 
won at the state fairs of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa and the International 
Stock Show at Chicago. One of the finest animals of this class on the Sizer 
farm today is Tatton Eldorado, which was a first prize winner in the four 
year class at the International Stock Show in Chicago in 1916. It is an 
animal of great value and it indicates how the Sizer Brothers were able 
to make their live stock enterprise a matter of practical benefit to a large 
community. 

Albert Dann Sizer, father of these brothers, was born in Otsego 
County, New York, in 1823 and died in 1885. His ancestry is traced 
back to colonial days. His grandfather, Daniel Sizer, was a soldier in 
the Eevolutionary War. He was a private in the Fourth Company under 
Capt. R. J. Meys from Middletown and in the Second Connecticut 
Regiment under Col. Joseph Spencer. He served during the siege 
of Boston, and the remainder of his official record as given in the Revolu- 
tionary archives is as follows: Private, November, 1777; Prisoner of 
war and was exchanged July, 1778; was a corporal March 20, 1780, and 
sergeant January, 1781, in the Third Regiment from Connecticut; was 
in the line formation 1781 till 1783 under Col. Samuel B. Webb. 
Served as a private in the retreat from Rhode Island. Such is the 
record of his activities as found in the adjutant general's report. 

Albert Dann Sizer was reared to manhood in his native state, was 
educated in common schools and the academy at Batavia, New York, 
and spent most of his active career as a teacher. His two sons are chil- 
dren of his second marriage. His second marriage occurred in Vermont 
and in 1857 he came to Kankakee County, Illinois, where he became 
principal of the Kankakee schools. In the fall of 1862 he removed to 
Newcomb Township of Champaign County, where in the meantime he had 
bought 160 acres of land. This purchase is part of the 240 acres now 
owned and managed by his sons. 'Fifty years have served to bring about 
remarkable changes in land values in Champaign County. He paid only $5 
an acre for his quarter section, but it is now worth $200 or $300 an acre. It 
was Illinois Central Railroad land and in an absolutely raw and unimproved 
state when he bought it. In 1865 Albert D. Sizer assumed the prin- 
cipalship of the Mahomet schools, and when his death occurred twenty 
years later he had put in sixteen years of the time at these schools. 
Among old time teachers he is rated as one of the most successful and is 
remembered by many hundreds of men and women now in mature years 
who went to school to him when children. He was a Republican in poli- 
tics and began voting in that political faith at the time the party was 
organized. He and his wife were also members of the Presbyterian 
Church. They are laid to rest in the Riverside cemetery. 

The mother of the Sizer brothers was born in Vermont, September 1, 
1831, and died in October, 1899. She was well educated. Her grand- 
father and her great-grandfather on the paternal side were in the Revo- 
lutionary- War, the great-grandfather being a lieutenant. He was of 
English origin in the Noyes line. 

The late Lucius Noyes Sizer was educated in the public schools at 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 789 

Mahomet and also attended the State University of Illinois, where he was 
graduated in the civil engineering department with the class of 1884. 
Though his home was in the country and his time was devoted to the 
stock farm, Mr. Sizer gave the greater part of his thirty years after leav- 
ing college to the civil engineering profession. He made a record for him- 
self in that line in Champaign and Ford counties. It was Mr. Sizer 
who planned one of the largest open ditches in either of these counties, the 
big Ford ditch in Ford County, built at a cost of a hundred thousand 
dollars. For three and a half years he served as city engineer of Cham- 
paign, during which period his chief work was paving. 

In June 30, 1892, Mr. Sizer married Miss M. Anna Shurts. To their 
marriage were born four children, three sons and one daughter. Albert 
Dann, the oldest, is now principal of the public schools of Pesotum in 
Champaign County. He was educated in the Champaign High School, 
graduating in 1911, and three years after that pursued his studies in the 
University of Illinois, in the agricultural course. Albert D. Sizer mar- 
ried Miss Pauline Moss Carter, and they have a son, Albert Carter. 
Mr. Sizer is a Republican and he and his wife are members of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church. Bruce Lucius, the second son, finished his educa- 
tion in the Champaign High School with the class of 1912, then entered 
the State University and was given an appointment to the United States 
Naval Academy at Annapolis and spent one year in training in that 
institution. On account of failing health he had to give up his intention 
of training for officer in the United States Navy and he is now at Las 
Animas, Colorado. Donald Eugene, the third of the sons, finished the 
course of the common schools and is now carrying forward his work of a 
higher education in the high school at Fisher. The only daughter, 
Dorothy M., has finished the work of the common schools and has spent 
one year in the Fisher High School. The parents of these children exer- 
cised much care in bringing them up and gave them an excellent training, 
above the ordinary in preparation for the duties and responsibilities of life. 

Mrs. Sizer was born in Tazewell County, Illinois, November 14, 1865, 
the fourth in a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters. 
Her parents were Joseph Nitzer and Emily (Blair) Shurts. Three of the 
.children are still living and Mrs. Shurts and her brother Fred are living 
in Champaign County. The father was born in New Jersey in 1824 and 
died in 1906. When a young man he accompanied the family to Ohio, 
lived there a number of years, and he then moved west and located in 
Delavan, Tazewell County, Illinois. He acquired land in that beautiful 
section of the state and finally retired from farming into Delavan, where 
he spent his last years. He was a Democrat in politics. His wife was 
born in Michigan in 1836 and died in 1900. She was an active member 
of the Christian Church. Mrs. Sizer was educated in the common schools, 
and had two years instruction in the State Normal University at Normal, 
Illinois. After this preparation she became a teacher and followed the 
profession for eight years very successfully, and the satisfaction that her 
labors afforded is well indicated by the fact that she taught five years in 
one school in Tazewell County. For three years of her teaching she was 
at Delavan. Mrs. Sizer was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
at Champaign and of the Domestic Science Club at Fisher. She proved a 
very able and capable woman in the establishment of her home and in 
bearing her social duties. 

Mr. Sizer was a Republican and the only office he accepted was director 
of the public schools. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

Lucius Noyes Sizer passed away July 6, 1917, and after the funeral 



790 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

services his remains were interred in Riverside cemetery at Mahomet, 
Illinois. The death of Mr. Sizer caused much sorrow amongst his many 
life long friends in Newcomb Township, as well as the cities of Champaign 
and Urbana. His life was one of honor, and upright living, and he left 
a worthy heritage to his children as a man amongst men. Mrs. Sizer died 
October 5, 1917. 

WILLIAM OSCAR DALE. During many years of residence in Champaign 
County William 0. Dale has reached that enviable position where his word 
is accepted in business matters the same as a bond, and all his friends 
and acquaintances repose the utmost confidence in his judgment and integ- 
rity. Mr. Dale, with the aid of his capable wife, has developed a fine 
country home in Mahomet Township, known as the Fern Dale Farm, and' 
at the same time he has acted on the principle that the community deserved 
some of his work and has interested himself for a number of years to the 
benefit and improvement of the local schools. 

The Dale family has lived in Champaign County since pioneer times, 
and the family record is one that can be viewed in detail without finding a 
single unfavorable distinction. William Oscar Dale was born in this 
county, June 4, 1864, and was the third of eight children, five sons and' 
three daughters. Of the four still living William 0. is the oldest. His 
sister Tena was liberally educated, having at one time been a student of 
the Illinois State Normal School and a teacher in both McLean and Cham- 
paign counties before her marriage to Mr. W. H. Webb. Mr. Webb is a 
practical farmer and they now reside in Rockwell City, Iowa, the parents 
of four children. Frank Lee, the third child, was educated in the Mahomet 
High School and has spent a number of years in Oklahoma, where he was 
formerly editor of the Minco Minstrel and is now a banker at Foyil, con- 
nected with the Foyil State Bank. He married Miss Edith Lucas, and 
they have a daughter. Charles Wilson, the youngest, is now editor of 
the St. Joseph Record of St. Joseph, Illinois. He married Miss Myrta 
Morehouse. 

The parents of these children were Thomas and Mary E. (Mead) Dale. 
Thomas Dale spent the larger part of his active career in Champaign County. 
He was born near Marion, Ohio, March 19, 1834, and still retains his 
intellect and his faculties at the advanced age of eighty-three. He is now 
living at Rockwell City, Iowa. He came to Illinois when fourteen years 
of age. The family made the journey with wagons and teams, and were 
among the early settlers in Mahomet Township, where they bought land 
from the Government at $1.25 per acre. The Dale homestead on this 
eighty-acre tract was built of logs, and Thomas Dale during his youth fre- 
quently hunted the wild game which abounded in this section, and has 
.killed deer within the limits of Champaign County. He secured his edu- 
cation in a log schoolhouse with its slab seats and other crude equipment, 
and he wrote his copy with a goose quill pen. Farming has been his voca- 
tion, and he was of an age to cast his first vote about the time the Repub- 
lican party was organized. Both he and his wife early became identified 
with the Methodist Church, and he donated the ground where the present 
church at Mahomet stands. His wife was born in New Jersey in 1832 
and died January 24, 1881. A monument stands at her grave in the Bryan 
Cemetery. 

William 0. Dale as a boy attended the common schools and was also a 
student for two years in the Mahomet High School while the principal 
was Professor A. D. Sizer. Since his studies were concluded his work has 
been as an agriculturist and stockman. He began as a wage worker at 
$18 a month and put in three or four years in that way and next rented 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 791 

land. A number of years ago he went to Oklahoma and bought 400 acres 
near Frederick, and he still owns that property. He and his wife have 
200 acres in Mahomet Township, this land being an estate that has not yet 
been divided. 

March 5, 1891, Mr. Dale married Miss Grace E. Eayburn. From time 
to time children have come into their home to the number of eight, three 
sons and five daughters, and six of them are still living. Much of their 
hard work and self-denial have been done in order that these children 
might have superior advantages at home and in school and their family 
do them credit and honor by their accomplishments. The oldest is Belle, 
now the wife of Otis Pfiester, an agriculturist living in Scott Township. 
Mrs. Pfiester attended the Mahomet High School, the Illinois State Normal 
School, and for six years was a successful member of the teaching profes- 
sion in Champaign County. Both she and her husband are active members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Feme, the second daughter, had 
similar educational advantages with her sister Belle, and both were well 
trained in music. She is considered one of the most talented teachers in 
Champaign County, and has performed that work creditably for several 
years. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Lulu, the 
third daughter, was graduated from the Mahomet High School, spent one 
year in the State Normal, and also one year in the Normal at Charleston, 
Illinois. She is also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
three younger children are Oscar, Mary R. and Robert. Oscar enters the 
Mahomet High School in 1917, Mary is in the sixth grade of the grammar 
school, while Robert is in the third grade. 

Mrs. Dale was born in Champaign County, June 25, 1870, a daughter 
of Robert Gilbert and Isabel ( Herri ott) Rayburn. She grew up in this 
county, was educated in the common schools, and has deemed it a privi- 
lege to work beside her husband in establishing a home and in the careful 
rearing and training of her family. Her father was born in Ohio and his 
life has been successfully passed as an agriculturist. He is one of the, 
leading citizens of Champaign County and has one of the beautiful country 
homes here. He is a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. His wife was born in the Blue Grass State of Kentucky, and was 
a woman whose character and attainments commanded universal respect. 
Her death occurred September 5, 1912, and she was laid to rest in the 
Riverside Cemetery. 

Mr. Dale is a Republican, having cast his first presidential vote for 
James G. Blaine. Both he and his wife have served as directors of the 
local public schools and have exerted their influence, whether officially or 
as private citizens, to secure the best teachers and the best equipment for 
the education of the younger generation. Mr'. Dale has filled all the 
chairs except the East in the local Masonic Lodge No. 220, A. F. & A. M. 
The Fern Dale Farm, which he and his wife occupy, is a tract of the rich 
black soil characteristic of Champaign County, and its productiveness and 
value have been enhanced by the capable manner in which Mr. Dale has 
managed the land and its resources. 

MRS. ANNA MARIE JONES. In the making of the worthy history of 
Champaign County, woman as well as man has played a most worthy part. 
But too often the part of woman has been overlooked or slighted and yet 
in those things of which Champaign County is most proud, its homes, 
the wives and mothers share on an equal scale with the husbands and 
fathers. It is therefore most appropriate that this sketch should begin 
with the name of a noble Champaign County woman who has done her 
part both as a home maker and as a mother as well as in church and social 
affairs. 



792 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mrs. Jones is a native of Champaign County, having been born here 
January, 23, 1866. She is a daughter of August and Anna Johanna 
(Burkhardt) Sperling. Her father, who is still living at the age, of 
seventy-eight, was born June 14, 1839, in Stabelberg, Prussia. He has 
made seven trips across the ocean. The first of these long journeys was 
made when he was about eighteen years old. At the age of twenty-one 
he came again to America and located in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. 
From there he went to Winona, Minnesota, and engaged in the grain busi- 
ness. About 1865 he came to Champaign County and turned his atten- 
tion to agriculture on these rich and fertile acres. Subsequently for ten 
years he was again in the grain business and he finally retired and moved 
out to California about 1905 and has since lived retired at South Pasa- 
dena. He is still owner of 520 acres of the valuable Champaign County 
land. Politically he has been a Republican and is a Knight Templar 
Mason with membership at Gibson City, Illinois, and is also an Odd 
Fellow. He and his wife were reared as members of the Lutheran 
Church. His good wife, who was born at Rottenacher, Wurtemberg, Ger- 
many, not far from the city of Berlin, on October 30, 1842, passed away 
February 4, 1913, at Pasadena, California. She was a noble woman and 
did her part well by her children and family. 

Altogether there were ten children, five sons and five daughters. Six 
are still living. Emma was educated in the common schools of Cham- 
paign County and is now living with her father at South Pasadena, Cali- 
fornia. J. A. F. Sperling is a well known citizen of Dewey, Champaign 
County, where he is serving as postmaster. He was a soldier in the 
Spanish-American War. In politics he is a Republican and is a member 
of Sangamon Lodge No. 801 of Masons and the Lodge of Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows at Dewey. Next in age comes Mrs. Jones. Alwin H. 
is married and is successfully pursuing his business as a farmer in East 
Bend Township. Godfrey is a civil engineer by profession, having 
graduated from the University of Illinois with the class of 1895. He is 
now practicing his profession at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He is mar- 
ried, is a Republican, and a member of the Christian Science Church. 
Johanna A. is the wife of William Burkhardt, who resides in Los Angeles, 
California, and is owner of a large ranch in that state. 

Mrs. Jones was educated in the common schools of Champaign County 
and on March 7, 1888, at the age of twenty-two, was married in this 
county to John Morris Jones. To their marriage were born five children, 
four sons and one daughter all of whom are still living. 

The oldest is J. Karl Jones, who attended the common schools, the 
Academy of the State University and spent three and a half years in the 
State University taking the civil engineering course. He followed his 
profession in the mountains of Idaho in 1910, and then returning to 
Champaign County entered his father's store at Dewey as a salesman and 
is now senior member of the firm of Jones Brothers at Dewey. This is a 
business which in scope and importance deserves first rank among the 
mercantile firms of Champaign County. About $50,000 is invested in 
capital and stock and equipment, and the annual turnover of business 
amounts to about $300,000. The firm has a large and complete stock of 
general merchandise, and also buys and sells grain, coal, tile, automobile 
supplies and agricultural implements. During 1916 their sales ranged 
all the way from a package of pins to a threshing outfit. Mr. Karl Jones 
is a Republican and cast his first presidential vote for Theodore Roosevelt. 
He is a central committeeman of East Bend Township and is also a mem- 
ber of the road committee and is an enthusiast in the advocacy of good 
country roads for Champaign County. He is in line to pass all the offices in 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 793 

Sangamon Lodge No. 801, A. F. and A. M., at Fisher, and is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. His home is at Dewey with his mother. 

John M., the second son, was educated in the common schools, took 
two years of high school work at Champaign and finished his course in 
the South Pasadena High School in California, where he was graduated 
with the class of 1910. After that he was a student for two years in the 
University of Illinois. He is now associated with his brothers in the 
general mercantile business at Dewey and furnishes some of the enterprise 
and vigor by which that firm has steadily mounted to success. Fraternally 
he is affiliated with Sangamon Lodge of Masons at Fisher and the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows at Dewey and has served as a delegate 
to the Grand Lodge. He is also a member of the local school board and 
belongs to the Methodist Church. He has traveled extensively over the 
western states and Canada and knows conditions not only at home but over 
a wide stretch of country. Both he and his brother Karl are members of 
the University fraternity Chi Phi at Champaign. 

Emma Verna, the only daughter of Mrs. Jones, is the wife of Harry 
J. Hamm of Dewey. Mr. Hamm is associated with the banker C. E. 
Jackson in the automobile business. Mrs. Hamm was for three years a 
student in the Champaign High School and for one year was a student of 
instrumental music in the Von Stein Academy ,at Los Angeles. Her 
musical course was taken during the year 1910-1911. She is an active 
member of the Christian Church at Rantoul, while Mr. Hamm is a Metho- 
dist. He is a graduate of the Champaign High School and by his good 
work won a scholarship in the University. Fraternally he is affiliated 
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife are active 
in the Eebekahs at Dewey, Mrs. Hamm having served as a delegate to the 
Grand Lodge. Theirs is one of the comfortable homes of the village and 
is a hospitable social center. 

Alwin A., the fourth child of the family, was graduated from the 
Eantoul High School in 1913 and afterwards entered the University of 
Illinois. He continued his studies there two years and early in 1917 
resigned from the University to accept one of the numerous calls made 
upon the patriotic youth of this country and joined the agricultural 
service for the United States Government. He is one of a number of 
competent young men from the University who have been assigned to duty 
in Western Canada, his present location being at Eegina. He left his 
home at Dewey, April 27, 1917. He is a young man, the joy and pride 
of his home and family, and when the appeal was made for young men to 
join in the cause of universal defense against autocracy he was first and 
foremost and did not hesitate a moment to assume the responsibilities 
placed upon him by the president and the government. He has member- 
ship in the Christian Church at Rantoul, is a member of Sangamon Lodge 
No. 801, A. F. and A. M., at Fisher, and the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, and both he and his brother John have been through the Encamp- 
ment degrees of Odd Fellowship and are also members of the Rebekahs. 

Sperling D., the youngest of Mrs. Jones' children, is now in the sixth 
grade of the public schools and is showing an unusual capacity for his 
studies. He has also taken instrumental music. 

Mrs. Jones' only daughter has always been an active factor in her 
church, her social community, and in everything that pertains to her home, ' 
and is a thoroughly cultured young woman. 

Mrs. Jones has given the best years of her life to her children and 
her home. Her children have well repaid this affection and care, and 
throughout she has endeavored to teach them the truth of a clean and up- 
right life and an honorable and straight-forward course in all things. 



794 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

The late John Morris Jones was born in Carmarron, Wales, January 7, 
1861, but when five years of age came with his parents to America. The 
journey was made on a sailing vessel from Liverpool, England, to New 
York City. It was a long and tedious voyage as compared with the speed 
of the ocean greyhounds of modern times. While the vessel was in New 
York harbor the boy narrowly escaped death. While reaching for an 
apple he lost his balance and almost providentially escaped falling into 
the ocean and perhaps losing his life. The Jones family came direct to 
Champaign County and located just north of Dewey, where his father 
bought a farm of 300 acres in East Bend Township. That was the home 
of Mr. Jones during his youth and until his marriage. With his wife 
he started a career as an agriculturist on a small place of forty acres. 
Later he bought forty acres more, and having steadily climbed to pros- 
perity as a farmer he entered the grain and implement business about 
1901. In 1912 he erected the present store building at Dewey and en- 
tered upon the still larger business activity which is now carried on by his 
sons under the name Jones Brothers. He had been in the store only two 
years when he was taken away by death. The late Mr. Jones made a 
signal success in business affairs and had the good will of all who knew 
him. His family and their welfare were uppermost in his mind always. 
An active Odd Fellow, he was a charter member of the lodge of the order 
at Dewey and a delegate to the Grand Lodge. He also belonged to the 
Court of Honor and the Modern Woodmen of America. When an infant 
he was christened in St. Horeb Church in England, and at the age of 
sixteen joined the Independent School Society in 1877, and in 1890 be- 
came a member of the Christian Church at Fisher. For a number of 
years he served as superintendent of the Sunday School at Dewey. 

He also participated in the life of his community in an official way. 
He served as tax collector for a number of years and was a director of 
the schools and wherever possible supported and advocated better schools. 
At the time of his death he was serving as township treasurer. He was 
an active Republican and his death left vacant the position of central com- 
mitteeman. Mr. Jones passed away May 12, 1914, and his remains were 
laid to rest in the cemetery at Fisher. 

Mrs. Jones is still living at her old home in Dewey, surrounded by 
children and friends, and almost her lifetime has been spent in that one 
locality. Her choice of church is the Christian denomination, but she 
also attends the Methodist Church at Dewey. 

SALEM L. KETTERMAN, one of the oldest residents of the village of 
St. Joseph, has been there continuously for forty-four years. He has all 
the time been closely associated with its welfare and has lived to see many 
changes recorded in the history of Champaign County. The only other 
man still living in St. Joseph who was there when he first settled is 
Mr. T. Jefferson Wooden. 

Mr. Ketterman is a native of the old State of Virginia, having been 
born in Hardy County, March 19, 1847, a son of John and Belinda (Full) 
Ketterman. His parents were also natives of Virginia and of German 
descent. The first American Ketterman was Christopher, who settled in 
Virginia in 1760. A son of this immigrant, Daniel Ketterman, a great- 
uncle of Salem L., was a Revolutionary s,oldier and was present at the 
surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, the closing scene of the war for 
independence. John and Belinda Ketterman had only two children, 
Salem and Hannah J., Salem being the older. The mother died when 
Salem was a child and the father married again, and altogether had seven 
children, two sons and five daughters. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 795 

Salem L. Ketterman received his first advantages in the district schools 
of Virginia. He was ten years of age when, in 1857, his father came to 
Champaign County and he completed his education while living on the 
paternal farm in St. Joseph Township. He grew up here, made the best 
of his early advantages, and for twelve years was one of the successful 
teachers of the county. 

In 1875, at the age of twenty-eight, Mr. Ketterman married Miss 
Mellie E. Utt. She is also of Virginia ancestry, having been born in what 
is now the State of West Virginia, near Morgantown, a daughter of James 
Utt. She was educated in the Glenburn Seminary at Morgantown. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Ketterman located at the village of 
St. Joseph, where he engaged in the drug business for several years. Later 
he took up the business of house decorating and painting. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ketterman had one daughter, Blanche. She completed 
her education in the high school at St. Joseph and fitted herself for school 
work and for a number of years taught in this county. She spent six years 
in the Ogden High School, taught the Bowers district school two terms, 
the Hunt school two terms, and then married Arthur E. White. Mr. 
White was then proprietor of a grain business at Ogden, but is now in 
the lumber business at St. Joseph. Mr. and Mrs. White have two chil- 
dren, Pauline and Wendell. Pauline is now a student in the St. Joseph 
High School. 

Mr. Ketterman's family experienced the usual joys and sorrows of 
life and on January 8, 1909, the good wife and mother entered into rest. 

Politically Mr. Ketterman is a man of broad views, supporting the prin- 
ciples rather than the party, though he has always been a Republican. His 
early work as a teacher has always led him to support and encourage 
public education. He also served from 1873 to 1880 as postmaster of tho 
village of St. Joseph. 

JOHN EDWARD McJiLTON. Formerly an agriculturist in one of the 
greatest cornbelts in the world, still the owner of a large amount of valu- 
able land in Champaign County, and now the proprietor of a leading and 
successful lumber business, John Edward McJilton is one of the residents 
of Fisher who is familiar with the county in which he has spent prac- 
tically all his life. From a modest beginning he has succeeded in building 
up a prosperous trade in lumber, and his standing in business circles is 
that which is attained by men who have honorably worked out their own 
success. 

Mr. McJilton was born in Woodford County, Illinois, April 9, 1862, 
and is the youngest of five children, three sons and two daughters, born 
to John Thomas and Elizabeth Jane (Shafer) McJilton. His father was 
a native of Ohio, born in January, 1822, and died about April, 1904, at 
Elm Creek, Nebraska. He was about twelve years of age when he came to 
Woodford County in pioneer style, in wagons, with his parents, and here 
secured his education in the early public schools, his boyhood training 
being along agricultural lines. He traced his ancestry to Scotland, the 
land of the thrifty and industrious, and had inherited the characteristics 
of his forefathers, so that he was not long a worker for others, but secured 
land of his own. He was married in Woodford County, where his children 
were born, and in 1868 came to Champaign County, purchasing eighty 
acres of land in East Bend Township. This original purchase was subse- 
quently augmented from time to time until Mr. McJilton was the owner 
of 200 acres of well improved land in the county, when he sold out and 
went to Butler County, Kansas, there becoming the owner of a farm by 
purchase. Mr. McJilton made his home in Kansas for about five years, 



796 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

following which he went to Buffalo County, Nebraska, and there rounded 
out his long and honorable career in the prosecution of agricultural opera- 
tions. Mr. McJilton was not only one of the leading farmers of his 
section, but was prominent in township affairs, held a number of local 
offices, and for many years was a school director. He and his wife were 
consistent and faithful members of the Christian Church, to the move- 
ments and work of which they contributed liberally. In political affairs 
Mr. McJilton was a Democrat. Mrs. McJilton was born in 1828 in Wood- 
ford County, Illinois, where she was educated in the public schools, and 
died in June, 1906, in the same locality as her husband, Elm Creek, 
Nebraska, where a beautiful stone marks the resting-place of this devoted 
and highly respected couple. They were the parents of the following 
children : Mary, who is the wife of W. H. Swazey, a well known resident 
and merchant of Ashland, Kansas; Simon W., who is a resident of 
Overton, Nebraska, married and a retired farmer; Joseph W., who is 
engaged in agricultural work at Saint Louis, Michigan; Emma, the wife 
of Isaac Davis, who is connected with the United States mail service and 
is a resident of Towanda, Kansas ; and John Edward, of this review. 

John Edward McJilton is largely a self-educated man. He attended 
the district school of his neighborhood during his youth, but his time was 
largely occupied in assisting his father in the work of the home farm, on 
which he remained until reaching the age of twenty-two years, and the 
greater part of his education has come through experience, observation 
and mingling with men of affairs. When he was one year past his 
majority he became a renter of land in Kansas, whence he had been taken 
by his parents, and for three years gathered crops on property in that 
state thus secured. At the end of that period he came to Champaign 
County, where he had been given a forty-acre farm by his father-in-law. 
He fanned his father-in-law's land for seven years, and in the meantime 
purchased an additional thirty-five acres, for which he went into debt, 
but subsequently cleared off his indebtedness. Being at that time the 
owner of seventy-five acres, with good prospects for success in his under- 
takings, Mr. McJilton decided to establish a home of his own, and Febru- 
ary 11, 1886, was united in marriage with Miss Augusta Heyer. They 
became the parents of five children, of whom the following still survive: 
Alva W., educated in the common schools and one winter at a business 
college at Marion, Indiana, now a successful agriculturist and stockman of 
East Bend Township, Champaign County, independent in politics, voting 
rather for the man than the party, a member of the Christian Church, as 
was his first wife, Ethel Bryan, by whom he had one daughter, and mar- 
ried for his second wife Nellie Williams, who attends the same church; 
Elsie, educated in the common schools, married Ernest Mink, an agri- 
culturist of Champaign County, Illinois, has one son, Lyle, and is a 
member of the Christian Church ; Leslie, who is in the third year of high 
school at Fisher; and Hazel, who is in the sixth grade of the common 
school at Fisher. 

Mrs. McJilton is a native of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, and was 
born March 5, 1860, being a daughter of William and Sophia Heyer. 
Her father was a native of Saxony, Germany, and after receiving a good 
education in his native land, came to the United States when still a young 
man. He was an agriculturist by vocation, and a man of unusual bril- 
liance of mind and intellect, one of his favorite subjects being history, 
upon which he was exceptionally well informed. On first coming to 
America he located in Wisconsin, where he gained success both as an agri- 
culturist and a manufacturer of cheese, and in the latter connection was 
the owner of a factory, in which Mrs. McJilton assisted her father when 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 797 

a child. After leaving Wisconsin Mr. Heyer became one of the earliest 
settlers near Fisher, and here the remaining years of his life were passed 
in the pursuits of the soil, he becoming the owner of 395 acres of good 
Champaign County land. He died in 1896, at the age of sixty-five years, 
in the faith of the German Lutheran Church. Mrs. McJilton was edu- 
cated in the public schools of Champaign and has made her home here 
since girlhood. She is a member of the Domestic Science Society at 
Fisher, and is generally popular among the ladies here, but finds her 
chief interests in her home. 

Mr. McJilton embarked in the lumber business in Fisher in 1908 
and has steadily built up an excellent trade. He now carries a complete 
and up-to-date line of lumber and all kinds of building material, and 
his treatment of his patronage, as well as of the public in general, is 
such as to accord him a place in their confidence and esteem. While the 
greater part of his attention is now given to his lumber business, he has 
by no means given up his interest in agricultural matters, for he is the 
owner of 180 acres of land in Champaign County, eighty 'acres in Gratiot 
County, Michigan, and twenty acres in Florida. He also owns his own 
home at Fisher, a comfortable and hospitable residence, where his numer- 
ous friends always find a warm welcome. With Mrs. McJilton, he belongs 
to the Christian Church, in which he is a deacon, and in addition to 
religion, he is a friend of education and has served in the capacity of 
school director. In every way he is entitled to be numbered among the 

representative men of Champaign County. 

i i 

WILLIAM H. THOMPSON of Ogden first knew Champaign County in 
the years just before the outbreak of the Civil War, when most of this 
section of Illinois was a country of swamp and prairie and when its mag- 
nificent development had hardly begun. Mr. Thompson's individual career 
has been a factor in the improvement and development of Champaign 
County farm land, and out of that work he has acquired a commendable 
degree of prosperity that now enables him to live in comfort and plenty. 

Mr. Thompson was born at Waynesburg in Greene County, Pennsyl- 
vania, a son of Andrew J. and Catherine (Shape) Thompson. He was 
one of a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, who 
received their education in the district schools. In 1859, when William H. 
Thompson was fourteen years of age, the family came to Illinois and set- 
tled east of Homer in Champaign County. They were pioneers here and 
William H. Thompson grew up acquainted with the hardships and priva- 
tions endured by the early settlers. 

At the age of twenty-one he married Valencia Eice. She was born in 
the Blue Grass State of Kentucky. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. 
Thompson located at Burr Oak, Illinois, on rented land. There they 
began to carve the future according to their own desires and ability, and 
for a number of years they lived on a virgin prairie looking out over a 
scene of high prairie grass alternating with wet sloughs. Mr. Thompson 
by his first marriage became the father of three children. The daughter 
Ora Lee died at the age of ten months. The other two children are 
Frank E. and Stella. Both of them were educated in the district schools. 
Frank is a farmer in Livingston County, Illinois, and married Clara ' 
Shinn. Stella is the wife of Charles Dubois and they live in Chicago. 

About twenty-five years ago Mr. Thompson moved to Ogden Township 
and bought forty acres of land at $42.50 an acre. It had few improve- 
ments and at the time was considered a part of the wooded district of 
Champaign County, but by thorough drainage it is now high and dry and 
every foot of the ground is susceptible of cultivation. Mr. Thompson has 

218 



798 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

placed many farm improvements, including the planting of fruit and shade 
trees and the building of a commodious and attractive home and barns. 
He also owns forty acres in Vermilion County. 

In October, 1878, Mr. Thompson married for his present wife Lizzie 
(Hayes) Huckin. She was born in Ohio, daughter of William and Mary 
(Burnett) Hayes. Her parents were born and reared in Ireland and 
came to America with two children, one of whom died immediately after 
they landed. While they lived in Ohio two other children were born, and 
when Lizzie was three years of age they migrated to Illinois, more than 
sixty years ago. At that time there was no Ogden and the entire country 
was a vista of prairie and swamp. Mrs. Thompson attended the public 
schools at Ogden and at the age of eighteen married Albert Huckin. The 
one. child of that union, William Huckin, was born October 7, 1873. In 
October, 1874, while digging a well on his farm, a bucket fell into an 
excavation and injured Albert Huckin so seriously that he died fifty-six 
days later. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were born six children, four sons and two 
daughters. Their names are Milton Winfield, Esther May, Ida Bell, 
Grover Cleveland, George and Herman. Both daughters died in early 
girlhood. The other children were well educated at Ogden and also in 
the University of Illinois. 

Mrs. Thompson's son by her first marriage, William Huckin, graduated 
from Rush Medical College at Chicago and is now a practicing physician 
at Wasco, Oregon. He married Augusta Anderson of South Dakota, and 
they have one child, Augusta Lizzie. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson's oldest son, Milton, is a graduate of the 
University of Illinois, and is now connected with the Chamber of Com- 
merce at Madison, Wisconsin. He married Beatrice Rogers. The second 
sou, Grover Cleveland, is a successful farmer at Barney, thirty miles south 
of Fargo, North Dakota. He married Inez Alverson of Oakwood, and has 
a son and two daughters, Ray, Mildred and Helen Esther. George 
Thompson, a farmer in Ogden Township, married Lula Goss. The young- 
est son, Herman, who was born December 10, 1896, is still at home, a 
student in the Ogden High School and planning to complete his training 
in Urbana. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are active members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at Ogden and he has been honored with the office of trustee for 
many years and is always among the most liberal supporters of the church 
and of any movement for the benefit of the community. His public spirit 
as a citizen has caused his fellow citizens to call upbn him as school director 
and ditch commissioner. Mr. Thompson is affiliated with the Court of 
Honor and the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is a Democrat. 
Mr. Thompson is now seventy-two years of age, but is quite as active as 
the average man of forty, and drives his car about the country with the 
careful skill of a veteran chauffeur. His automobile is one evidence of his 
having kept step with the progress of the times, and as he drives about he 
can overlook country whose development has taken place almost under his 
eyes and almost altogether within his own generation. 

ROBERT ALLEN STURGEON. For more than a quarter of a century 
Robert Allen Sturgeon has been a resident of Champaign County, and 
during this time it has been his fortune to have built up a prosperous 
business, to have established an extremely creditable record as a public 
official and to have made a lasting place for himself in the confidence of. 
the community through honorable conduct of the activities of life. In 
the difficult field of realty operation Mr. Sturgeon has achieved standing 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 799 

and reputation, and in the office of justice of the peace has proven a 
conscientious and efficient official. 

Eobert A. Sturgeon was born in Tazewell County, Illinois, October 
29, 1861, being the third in a family of five sons born to Samuel and 
Margaret J. (Wilson) Sturgeon, all of these children surviving. His 
brothers are: William S., who is engaged in business at Chicago, Illinois, 
is married ; Samuel W., who is married and engaged in agricultural opera- 
tions in the vicinity of El Paso, Woodford County, Illinois; James F., 
who is married and a resident of El Paso, where he is cashier of the 
Woodford County National Bank, a graduate of Knox College, and 
admitted to practice in the courts of Illinois; and Charles B., a resident 
of Peoria, Illinois, where he is identified with the United States Mail 
service. 

Samuel Sturgeon was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and there 
received his education in the public schools and upon reaching his major- 
ity adopted the vocation of agriculturist. He continued to reside in the 
Keystone state until 1858, in which year he removed to Tazewell County, 
and there continued as a tiller of the soil until 1868, when he went to 
Woodford County. There he purchased a farm, developed and cultivated 
it, and continued actively engaged in farming and stockraising until 
1895, when, he retired and passed on the heavier labors of the homestead 
to younger shoulders. From that time until his death, in 1908, he lived 
quietly in his comfortable home near El Paso, where he was widely known 
and highly respected. His first presidential vote was cast in support of 
a candidate of the Whig party, but he saw the birth of the Eepublican 
organization and thereafter was always a loyal and active supporter of the 
Grand Old Party. He was always ready to. tender his abilities to his 
community in positions of public trust, and his fellow citizens, having 
confidence in his ability and judgment, frequently took advantage of this 
willingness and elected him to act in offices of preferment. Fraternally 
he was affiliated with the Masonic order, and both he and Mrs. Sturgeon 
were members of the Presbyterian Church, which they joined at Peoria 
and of which .they continued devout supporters all their lives. Mrs. 
Sturgeon was born near the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County, 
Pennsylvania, and there received good educational advantages, attending 
the common schools and the Dauphin Academy. Her parents having 
died when she was still a girl, she was left in charge as a "little mother" 
to care for three of her brothers and sister, and nobly she performed this 
loving task, guiding them to honorable manhood and womanhood. She met 
and married Mr. Sturgeon in Pennsylvania, and in death they remain 
united, for they both lie .at peace in the cemetery at El Paso, where a 
handsome and appropriate stone marks their final resting-place. 

Robert Allen Sturgeon was about seven years of age when his parents 
removed to Woodward County, and there he secured his education in the 
district schools and the El Paso High School, subsequently attending the 
Illinois State Normal School for one year. His first work on his own 
account consisted of working farms on shares, and his cash capital was 
small indeed. After several years of this kind of work he embarked in 
the grain business at Elliott, Illinois, a venture in which he remained for 
two years, and in which he was reasonably successful, but in 1890 he 
disposed of his interests at that point and removed to Dewey, where he 
also lived for two years. The year 1892 marked his advent in Fisher, 
where he first engaged in the grain business and became well and favor- 
ably known in commercial circles of the city. However, in the meanwhile 
he had become interested in realty matters and was convinced of the 
future prosperity of Champaign County. He began dealing in a small 



800 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

way in real estate, and his business in this line soon grew to such pro- 
portions that he was compelled to give it all his attention, and he accord- 
ingly disposed of his grain enterprise. In 1900 Mr. Sturgeon was elected 
justice of the peace of Fisher, and during the seventeen years that he has 
held this office he has acted as counsel and adviser to his fellow citizens in 
a manner that has left no doubt as to his ability, tact and judgment, 
as well as his general usefulness to the community. 

Mr. Sturgeon was married June 12, 1895, to Miss Lucy Leota Elliott, 
who, like himself, believes in the advantages of good educational facilities 
and in fitting children for the higher walks of life. The elder of their 
two daughters, Margaret E., did two years of work in the Fisher schools, 
graduated from the Champaign High School, and then taught success- 
fully for two years in the schools of Champaign County. Her first wage 
was $55 per month, which was raised in the second year to $65, and in 
September, 1916, she entered the Illinois State University, where she is 
now a student. The other daughter, Carol Elliott, is in the second year 
of high school. 

Mrs. Sturgeon is a native of Ford County, Illinois, born December 
18, 1872, was educated in the Elliott schools, and for four years was a 
successful teacher. She is a daughter of Samuel and Anna (Crawford) 
Elliott, natives of Ohio, the former of whom, a farmer and stockman and 
later a pioneer grain merchant, laid out the town of Elliott. He was a 
stanch Republican, and both he and Mrs. Elliott were faithful members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Sturgeon also belongs to this 
church, and is likewise a popular and active member of the Domestic 
Science Society. 

Always a stanch Republican from the time he attained his majority, 
Mr. Sturgeon cast his first presidential vote for James G. Blaine, the 
Plumed Knight, and has supported every candidate of that party since. 
As noted, he has been justice of the peace since 1900, and since 1902 has 
been township assessor of Brown Township, having held both offices con- 
tinuously. He has likewise served in the capacity of village clerk, and 
at various times has been a delegate to conventions of his .party. Frater- 
nally a member of Sangamon Lodge No. 801, A. F. & A. M., he has filled 
all the chairs in that lodge, and is at present secretary, a position which 
he has held for a number of years. He is likewise a member of Camp 
No. 2534, Modern Woodmen of America, which he joined at the time of 
its organization. His religious belief makes him a Presbyterian, and he 
has always been a good friend of education, with four years' experience 
as a teacher to give him a knowledge of the needs of the public schools. 
The Sturgeon home at Fisher is one of the comfortable residences of the 
community, where hospitality reigns, and its occupants are numbered 
among the people who give strength and stability to this thriving Cham- 
paign County village. 

FREDERICK ROSE is in the grain business and handles his share of the 
grain that comes to Homer. He has been connected with the grain trade 
for the better part of his active career, and came to Champaign County 
about ten years ago, and his name and his enterprise are now known 
throughout that rich and splendid farming district surrounding Homer on 
all sides. 

Mr. Rose was born in New York City, November 3, 1861, a son of 
Henry and Anna (Smith) Rose. Both parents were natives of Germany 
and his father came to America in 1846. He had served an apprentice- 
ship at the blacksmith's trade in Germany and he worked at his trade in 
this country both in the East and West. In 1864 he located in LaSalle 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 801 

County, Illinois, and subsequently took up the business of farming. Both 
parents are now deceased. There were four children: Henry of Zion 
City, Illinois; Mary, wife of August Beck of Ford County, Illinois; 
George W. of Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Frederick. 

Frederick Eose grew up on his father's farm in LaSalle County and 
received a common school education. At the age of twenty he left home 
and engaged in the merchandise business at Melvin, Illinois. Four years 
later he concentrated his attention upon the grain trade and from Illinois 
removed to Boswell, Indiana, where he bought and conducted an elevator 
for seven years. Following that he was in the grain business at Brookston, 
Indiana, for nine years, and in 1907 came to Homer and bought the old 
elevator of the town. He tore down this structure and replaced it with a 
modern grain elevator with a capacity for 100,000 bushels. 

Mr. Rose married, March 6, 1885, Miss Margaret Jackson, who was 
born in Cook County, Illinois, near Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Rose have 
five children : Edward J. and Eva J., twins, the former a grain merchant 
at Champaign, and the latter the wife of William Mudge of Urbana; 
Leslie, who died in infancy; Frederick M., a dentist at Homer; and 
Henry H., who is associated with his father in business. Mr. Rose is a 
Republican in politics and he and his family are members of the Pres- 
byterian Church. 
i % 

CARL HENRY GEHRKE has been a resident of Champaign, for thirty-three 
years and many years ago he established a bakery which has grown and 
prospered, every year seeing additional equipment and increased trade, until 
the Gehrke Illinois Bakery now does an immense wholesale and retail 
business extending all over this section of Illinois. His business success 
consists in building up this large plant, and along with his prosperity has 
come the esteem of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. 

Mr. Gehrke was born in the city of Velpke, Province of Brunswick, 
Germany, June 18, 1852, a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Schultz). Gehrke. 
Both parents were born, lived and died in Brunswick, Germany. His 
father was a stone cutter by trade, while the grandfather, Henry Gehrke, 
was a school teacher. Mr. Gehrke thus -represented the substantial stock 
of German citizenship, many of whose virtues his own life has amplified. 
Henry Gehrke and wife had eight children : Henry, now deceased ; Carl H. ; 
Herman, also a resident of Champaign, Illinois; Otto, deceased; August 
and Mary, still in Germany; Minnie, wife of Henry Schroeder, of Sidney, 
Illinois; and Alvina, still in Germany. 

The compulsory system of education in Germany requires a boy's at- 
tendance at school until fourteen. At that age Carl Henry Gehrke left 
school to begin an apprenticeship in a baker's shop at Helmstead. Having 
completed the apprenticeship he returned to Brunswick, his home town, and 
then gave three years to his country as a member of the Black Hussars, a 
noted organization of the German army. After his military service he 
engaged in the bakery business at Magdeburg, Germany, for three years, 
and then returned to Brunswick and followed his trade until 1884. 

Mr. Gehrke came to the United States and located in Champaign, 
Illinois, in 1884, and the first five years he spent in the city he worked as 
a journeyman baker. With this experience in American business life and 
with some capital representing his modest savings, he started a shop of his 
own at 207 East Clark Street. He has been continuously in that location 
for over a quarter of a century, and he has invested a large amount of 
capital in the construction and equipment of a modern two-story brick 
sanitary bakery known as Gehrke's Illinois Bakery. He has taken the 
greatest of pride in maintaining the high standard of his products and has- 



802 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

been as careful in his attention to the technical side of the business as to 
the commercial end of it. Mr. Gehrke is strictly independent in politics. 
He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of St. Peter's 
Lutheran Church. 

On January 25, 1881, three years before he came to America, he mar- 
ried Miss Sophie Bank, of Schoppenstedt, Germany. Mrs. Gehrke died 
January 2, 1913, the mother of five children: Eobert C. is associated with 
his father in business. Otto C. was accidentally killed when struck by an 
Illinois Central train while driving one of the Jewel Tea Company's wagons 
on January 27, 1917. He had married Mary E. Short, but had no issue. 
Alma is the wife of John Ross, of Champaign. Jennie is the wife of 
Harry Haveng, of Champaign. Amanda is the wife of Albert E. Hend- 
ricks of Urbana. 

Robert C. Gehrke, who is associated with his father in business, is one 
of the progressive men of Champaign and is not only doing well in business 
but is rapidly becoming an important influence in local affairs. He was 
born in Brunswick, Germany, May 4, 1884, and was brought to America 
in early infancy. He attended the public schools of Champaign, took a 
course in a business college, and then joined his father in the Illinois 
Bakery. He has since become competent to assume the heavy responsibili- 
ties of that plant and thus relieve his father in a measure. 

In politics he is an active democrat and served as alderman from the 
fourth ward until the adoption of the commission form of government on 
May 1, 1917. Robert C. Gehrke is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of 
America, the Loyal Order of Moose and is a member of St. Peter's Church. 
On August 14, 1902, he married Anna T. Lynch, of Quincy, Illinois. They 
have two children, Robert, born June 21, 1903, and Miriam, born Octo- 
ber 28, 1906. 

CHABLES CHRISTOPHER LIESTMAN. There was a time when farm life 
in Illinois was one of continuous hard work and more or less social 
exclusion, but no better proof is needed to mark the change than is 
afforded in Newcomb Township, Champaign County, by such careful and 
progressive agriculturists as Charles Christopher Liestman. With a finely 
improved estate of 160 acres, located in a section of the county where 
public spirit is shown in fine roads prevailing, Mr. Liestman for many 
years has proved that farming is now not only one of the most profitable of 
occupations but the most independent. He belongs to an old pioneer 
family of the state, extended mention of which will be found in the 
present work, in the biographical sketch of Mrs. Adam Kroner. 

Charles C. Liestman was born in Piatt County, Illinois, July 8, 1878, 
the fifth in a family of twelve children born to Ludwig and Frederica 
(Karston) Liestman, who moved to Champaign County when Charles 
C. was a child. He grew up on the home farm and attended the public 
schools, afterward assisting his father and giving his time until he was 
.twenty-three years of age. He has always devoted himself to agricultural 
pursuits and has conducted his different undertakings with so much 
energy, coupled with intelligent judgment, that they have been success- 
ful. In addition to general 'farming and raising cattle and stock, for 
twenty-three years he and his brother Herman have harvested all through 
this section for the same parties each season and also have operated their 
first class harvesting outfit in Piatt and McLean counties. 

Mr. Liestman married February 18, 1902, Miss Anna Leischner, who 
was born in Piatt County, Illinois, October 12, 1882. Her parents were 
Nicholas and Johanna Leischner, who had eight children, the six sur- 
vivors being: Herman, who lives in Piatt County on a farm, married 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 803 

Carrie Our; William, who is a farmer in Newcomb Township, married 
Anna Liestman and they have four children, Orville, Earl, Mabel and 
Bernice; Ida, who is the wife of Fred Hansons, a farmer in Hensley 
Township, and they have three sons, Louis, Oscar and Albert; Minnie, 
who is the wife of Herman Liestman, a prominent farmer in Harris 
County, Texas, and they have two sons, Gilbert and Louis; Anna, who is 
Mrs. Charles Liestman; and Louise, who is the wife of Jason Synnott, 
owner of a ranch in Harris County, Texas, and they have three children, 
Eva, Clifford and Harold. The brothers of Mrs. Liestman are members 
of the fraternal order of Modern Woodmen of America, and the entire 
connection belongs to the Lutheran Church. 

Nicholas Leischner, father of Mrs. Liestman, was born in 1842 in 
Germany and was a young man when he came to the United States, 
crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a sailing vessel that six weeks after embark- 
ing landed him safely in the harbor of New York. His older brother, 
John Leischner, had preceded him and had made a home for himself at 
Monticello, Illinois, and Nicholas joined him there.. As he was without 
capital he had to work hard before he could negotiate the purchase of his 
first land, a tract of 120 acres, and even then had to assume a heavy debt. 
He was industrious, steady and saving and finally paid for it and added 
forty more acres to the first tract. When he retired he moved to Urbaua, 
Illinois, where he yet resides. In politics he is a Democrat and he belongs 
to the German Lutheran Church. His wife was born in Germany in 1848 
and died in 1902. A beautiful monument erected to her memory stands 
in the cemetery at Monticello. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Liestman lived on rented land for 
a time, .although he owned eighty acres in Wisconsin. When his father 
died he was made administrator of the estate and located on the old 
homestead, assuming an encumbrance of $12,000, which has all been 
cleared off. Mr. Liestman has made so many improvements that the farm 
residence is as comfortable and convenient as many city homes. It is 
lighted by acetylene gas, which proves very satisfactory. Mr. and Mrs. 
Liestman have two daughters, Bertha L. and Minnie L., both at school and 
doing well and both taking lessons in instrumental music, their parents 
being determined to give them every advantage possible to fit them for 
the positions in life that probably await them. 

Mr. Liestman is one of the busy men of his section. In addition to 
his many agricultural interests he is a director of the Lotus Grain & Coal 
Company, having served in that position for the last ten years, and for 
two years has been a director of the Lotus Special Drainage District, and 
also is somewhat prominent in county politics. On the Democratic ticket 
he has frequently been elected to township offices. He served three years 
as collector of Newcomb Township and several years has been a school 
director. He belongs to the order of Odd Fellows and attends the lodge 
at Foosland, Illinois. Both he and wife are active members of the 
Lutheran Church and were of great assistance when the new church was 
erected at Osman. 

Naturally Mr. Liestman and family are best known in their own 
neighborhood, where they are held in the highest esteem, but they believe 
in some change and variety to add to life's innocent pleasures, hence they 
take many pleasant trips in their fine Studebaker touring car and have 
greatly widened their circle of acquaintance. As they choose, also, they 
make far distant pleasure trips and Mr. Liestman has made four visits to 
the vicinity of Galveston, Texas, and his wife and daughters accompanied 
"him on two occasions. While in Texas he saw the 'beginning of the con- 
struction of the great sea wall at Galveston and its completion, believing 



804 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

at that time, with others, that no ordinary force of Nature could destroy 
such a solid structure, but after the terrific storm of 1915 he saw it prac- 
tically destroyed, an example of how weak is man's best handiwork pitted 
against wind and wave in mighty unison. Mr. Liestman is one of the 
solid, dependable men of his community, and the high regard in which 
he is universally held is thoroughly justified. 

DAVID WILSON of section 24, St. Joseph Township, first became 
acquainted with Champaign County when he was fifteen years of age, and 
for nearly thirty years he has lived in this county continuously, having 
acquired and developed one of the splendid farms in his vicinity. 

Mr. Wilson is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was born March 17, 
1851, a son of Samuel and Rebecca (Laird) Wilson. His parents were 
born in Ireland, came to America about 1836, were married in Cincinnati, 
and spent their industrious and honored lives in that city, where both of 
them died. They had six children, five sons and one daughter. 

David Wilson with his brothers and sister attended the public schools 
of Cincinnati. His coming to Illinois at the age of thirteen was in com- 
pany with his uncle, David Wilson, for whom he was named. David Wilson 
and his brother Samuel had bought from the Government at $1.25 an 
acre two sections of land in Champaign County, in sections 11 and 13 of 
St. Joseph Township. David Wilson, Jr., remained a year with his uncle 
and helped with the management of the land. He then returned to Cin- 
cinnati, but after another year was back in Champaign County and found 
work in the distillery at Urbana owned by his father and uncle. While 
there he was severely injured by an explosion on November 15, 1871. 

He then returned home with his mother to Cincinnati. In 1877 Mr. 
Wilson married Lessetta Lorenz. She was born at Cincinnati, daughter of 
Nicholas and Catherine (Klei) Lorenz. After their marriage Mr. and 
Mrs. Wilson located in Cincinnati, where he continued the business of his 
father, a livery and teaming enterprise, which he successfully managed for 
a number of years. 

In 1888 Mr. Wilson returned to Illinois, locating in Stanton Township 
upon forty acres that had been bought by his father from the railroad 
company. Mr. Wilson also acquired 160 acres additional and used that 
land as the foundation of his substantial enterprise as an agriculturist. 
The passing years have witnessed an increment to the land until his estate 
now comprises 280 acres, and he has greatly increased its value by improve- 
ments and careful handling. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were born six children, three sons and three 
daughters, named Clarence, Edward, Warren, Rebecca, Edna and Marjorie. 
The education of these children was carefully looked after at home and in 
the local schools, and all of them attended District School No. 176. Only 
one of them is married, Rebecca, wife of Harley Sanders. Mr. Sanders is a 
successful farmer in Stanton Township. They have two children, Russell 
and Marie, bright and attractive young people, and the only grandchildren 
of Mr. Wilson. 

Mr. Wilson took care that his farm should not only represent the best 
standards of agricultural husbandry but should express his ideas of home 
making. He erected commodious buildings, set out fruit and shade trees, 
and in that attractive environment is now content to spend his remaining 
years. In 1913 he suffered his greatest bereavement in the death of his 
good wife. Mrs. Wilson had endeared herself to the community as a kind 
neighbor and good friend, had made her home an abode of hospitality, 
and many grateful memories continue to wreathe themselves about her 
name. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 805 

Mr. Wilson's people in Cincinnati were active members of the Presby- 
terian Church. In Champaign County he and his wife found no con- 
venient Presbyterian Church in which to worship, and they therefore affil- 
iated themselves with the Friends Church, of which they were liberal 
supporters. Since the death of his good wife Mr. Wilson has remained 
on the homestead, with his daughter Marjorie as a most capable home 
maker. His three sons look after the management of the farm and have 
largely relieved their father of the heavier burdens which he in earlier 
years so capably sustained. 

Mr. Wilson is an ardent Republican and comes of a family that first 
voted for the Whig candidate and have supported the Republicans in an 
unbroken line since the organization of that great party. Fraternally Mr. 
Wilson is a Mason, and his sons Edward and Warren are Knights of 
Pythias and the daughter Marjorie is a member of the Eastern Star. 

Mr. Wilson has done much for his community, and for twenty-two 
years was vitally interested in the welfare of the local schools as a director. 
He was also honored with the office of township supervisor four years. 
Thus his record is closely identified with Champaign County and is worthy 
of perpetuation in this publication. 

PETER HEDBICK NELSON. For fully half a century Mr. Nelson has 
known Champaign County. The development of its resources and the 
transformation of its lands from raw prairie into beautiful farms have 
taken place before his own eyes. In that development he has shared as 
an individual, has made a name for himself as a substantial and public- 
spirited citizen, and has acquired those things an ambitious man most 
desires financial independence, the rearing and training of children to 
lives of usefulness and honor, a good name and many friends. For many 
years he and his good wife worked side by side in the mutual task of 
making a home and bearing their responsibilities as good citizens, and 
they are now in a position to enjoy the fruits of their well spent earlier 
years. 

Mr. Nelson was born in Jefferson County, Iowa, July 24, 1856. He 
was the youngest of three children, two sons and one daughter, and is the 
only one now living. His parents were John and Barbara (Burrough) 
Nelson. His mother died in Iowa. His father was born in 1824, in the 
Old Dominion State of Virginia, and died in 1886. When but a young 
boy he went with his parents, in a wagon drawn by ox teams, over the 
mountains and across the prairies of the Middle West. The family first 
halted near Mahomet in Champaign County, but soon proceeded westward 
to Iowa. John Nelson began life in Iowa as a renter, but about 1862 
returned to Illinois and located at Bloomington. From there he removed 
to Hayworth, and a year later chose a location near Bloomington. For 
seven years he was engaged in herding and handling cattle for the Orendorf 
farm along Salt Creek in McLean County. The Orendorfs and the Nelsons 
were close friends. 

About 1865, in the spring, John Nelson and his son Peter brought a 
herd of cattle into Champaign County. It was customary to drive cattle 
into this county and keep them during the summer and then return to 
Bloomington for the winter. 

During these early years Peter Nelson had some interesting experi- 
ences. At one time he was employed by James Orendorf to cut a cord 
of wood. He walked a mile and three-quarters to get to the timber, and 
was paid for his labor $1 a cord. He and his father lived the rough out- 
door life of the real cowboy while herding along Salt Creek. In order to 
get a dining table they knocked one end out of a large box and thus 
improvised a rude table. 



806 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Peter Nelson when in his eleventh year was directed by the Orendorfs 
to take charge of a bunch of cattle consisting of 202 head. He began his 
duties as herdsman on the 5th of May and kept the cattle on good pasture 
until October. He then returned with them to Bloomington, and the 
cattle, being weighed on the same scales where their first weight was taken, 
showed an increase of 330 pounds apiece. Perhaps this record for cattle 
grazed on the open pasture has never been excelled. For this work of five 
months Peter Nelson was paid $45 a month, boarding himself. While he 
was in the herdhouse there came up from Farmer City, seven miles away, 
a hunter. Half a mile from where the headquarters of the herders were 
this hunter came upon a great flock of water fowls which in those days 
frequented by thousands and thousands the marshy places of Champaign 
County. In two shots from his gun the hunter killed thirty-four ducks, 
two brants and one goose. Had this been told Mr. Nelson he would not 
have believed it, but having witnessed the feat with his own eyes he is 
able to vouch for the complete accuracy of the count. 

His father, John Nelson, began life without means and had only such 
education as was supplied by the old log cabin schools of the primitive 
style, the furnishings of which were wooden benches and the curriculum 
of the most meager classifications. He followed agriculture as his life- 
work, and was a Jeffersonian Democrat and a man of good character. He 
died in McLean County and was laid to rest in the Bellflower Cemetery. 

Peter Hedrick Nelson attended common schools, but through the 
necessity of work his education was somewhat limited so far as books were 
concerned. He not only looked after his own prosperity, but cared solic- 
itously for his father during his declining years. When the time arrived 
for him to start life on his own account he possessed a team and buggy, 
and the fortune he has since accumulated has been only a just recompense 
for many years of strenuous labor and effective management. While the 
years brought him considerable property, Mr. Nelson chose the role of a 
farm tenant or renter. He was the type of farmer such as any large land 
owner would delight to have as a tenant. In 1893 he rented a farm from 
M. W. Hays, and was continuously with Mr. Hays as a renter until 1916. 
This period of twenty-three years perhaps sets a record, so far at least as 
information is available, for continuous renting on one place. 

Many years ago Mr. Nelson became widely known over this section of 
Illinois as a stock buyer. Much of his success in life has been due to his 
enterprise in that direction. He has bought stock from the leading farmers 
of McLean, Ford and Champaign counties. He has sold not a little of his 
own stock, and for many years has bred and raised Poland China hogs, 
Shorthorn and Hereford cattle. 

The farm which Mr. Nelson owns and where he and his good wife now" 
reside in comfort and plenty comprises 320 acres in Newcomb Township. 
In 1915 they erected there a beautiful home. It is only two and a half 
miles south of Fisher and is convenient to schools and other advantages 
which they enjoy. Their home is modern in every detail, is furnace heated 
and lighted by acetylene. Mr. Nelson also owns property in Fisher. 

The real beginning of his life's happiness was with his marriage on 
December 14, 1887, to Miss Mary Ann Jervis. To their marriage were 
born ten children, five sons and five daughters, and nine of the number 
are still living. Gertrude Irene, the oldest, was educated in the Busey 
School and is now the wife of Earl Campbell, a practical agriculturist living 
in Newcomb Township. Mrs. Campbell is a member of the Shiloh 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Ernest John, the oldest son, completed the 
work of the eighth grade and for three months was a student in the Illinois 
Normal University. He married Miss Daisy Hawkins. He is also a 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 807 

member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Alta Mae, after finishing the 
eighth grade, spent one year in the high school at Fisher and has also 
taken musical .instruction. Harry, the second son, had the full eighth 
grade course and two years in the high school at Fisher. Leslie Dell is 
now in the seventh grade of the public schools. Cecil Calvert finished the 
work of the eighth grade and had one year in the high school at Fisher. 
Randall Linden is now in the eighth grade. Fern Rosetta is attending 
the sixth grade. The youngest, Lela Hannah, is in the fifth grade of the 
public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are to be commended for their earnest 
desire to give their children the best home and school training. 

Mrs. Kelson is a native of England, having been born in that indus- 
trial district around Manchester and Liverpool in the county known as 
Lancastershire. She was born July 24, 1863. She was the third in a 
family of twelve children, consisting of seven sons and five daughters. 
Nine of these children are still living, five of them in Champaign County. 
Her sister Sarah lives in West Lebanon, Indiana, her brother Andy is a 
resident of Continental, Ohio, and her sister Kate is a milliner at Granite 
City, Illinois. Mrs. Nelson is a daughter of Andrew and Hannah (Sher- 
gold) Jervis. Her father was a native of England and was educated in 
the National schools there. Farming was the occupation he took up in 
early life, and about 1864, when Mrs. Nelson was an infant, he brought 
his family by sailing vessel from Liverpool to New York City and from 
there to Champaign County. He acquired 120 acres of good land in 
Newcomb Township and was quite a successful man. Politically he cast 
his vote for the Republican party. His death occurred January 21, 1900, 
and he is now at rest in Mount Vernon Cemetery at Champaign. Mother 
Jervis is still living at Fisher with a daughter. She was born in 1839 and 
had a common school education. She and her daughter Lizzie reside 
together at Fisher. 

Mrs. Nelson was educated in the local schools of Champaign County, 
and was well qualified for the duties which she assumed as a home maker. 
Her children have been all with her, and her practical wisdom and encour- 
agement have many times sustained Mr. Nelson in his work. Their beau- 
tiful home is known as the Walnut Dell Stock Farm. It is a home of 
peace and comfort, of widespread hospitality, and is a favorite resort for 
the many friends of this worthy couple. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson keep in 
close touch with the modern world, and they share in its enjoyment. As 
a means of getting about the country and better commingling with their 
friends they have a large Case touring car. Mrs. Nelson is a member of 
the Methodist Church, and they have always endeavored to exemplify the 
tenets of true Christianity in their lives. They have aided financially in 
the erection of churches at Osman, Bellflower, Weedman, Walker, Shiloh, 
Oak Grove, Fisher and Blue Ridge. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were visitors 
to the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. Politically Mr. 
Nelson is a Democrat. The success he has gained in his own affairs has 
naturally made him the object of confidence on the part of his fellow citi- 
zens and for two terms he was township assessor and for a dozen years or 
more was a director of his home school district. Thus he has lived usefully 
and well and played a part among the men of affairs in Champaign County. 

JOSEPH C. DODDS, M. D., B. L. Long identified with Champaign 
County as a physician and surgeon and also as a citizen and business man, 
Doctor Dodds has lived in this county since he was ten years of age. 

He was born on Long Island, New York, June 15, 1864. At the age 
of ten he came to Champaign to live with his uncle, Dr. J. G. Chambers, 
brother of his mother. Here Doctor Dodds was educated, graduating from 



808 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

the Urbana High School, from the University of Illinois with the class of 
1886, attended the University of Michigan Medical School and in 1889 
graduated M. D. from Northwestern University at Chicago-. 

For twenty-five continuous years Doctor Dodds practiced medicine in 
Champaign County. He was an interne in the Marine Hospital of Chi- 
cago, and for some years was on the staff of the Kankakee Eastern Hospital 
and was district surgeon for the Illinois Central Railway between Gilman 
and Effingham. In 1908 he was appointed state medical director of the 
Modern Woodmen of America, and reappointed in 1911. 

In 1901 Doctor Dodds moved to Denver, Colorado, where he practiced 
a year and following that for nine years was located at Tolono, Illinois. 
While at Tolono he held the various offices of the village from mayor down, 
and his present home is at 622 West Hill Street in Champaign, where he 
owns a beautiful home. He is also one of the principal stockholders in 
the Twin City Ice and Cold Storage Company, of which he is manager and 
formerly was secretary and treasurer. 

Doctor Dodds is a member of the County and State Medical Society, 
is a director and the vice president of Burnham Library Board, is a 
Knight Templar Mason and Woodman, a member of the Country Club, 
and his wife is an actiye Presbyterian. 

January 1, 1891, Doctor Dodds married Miss Mina Brown of Newport, 
Indiana. They have three children : Eva, wife of Harry B. Crowder of 
Seattle, Washington; Josephine, a member of Chi Omega Sorority and a 
graduate of the University of Illinois, class of 1917; and Donald C., a 
graduate of the Champaign High School and a member of the Delta Tau 
Delta Fraternity, of three years' standing in the University of Illinois. 
When Battery F was organized he volunteered and was in Texas with the 
battery. He is now a corporal in Battery F with the One Hundred and 
Forty-ninth United States Field Artillery of the Forty-second Division in 
France. 

JAY G. BUCHAN. The natives and their descendants of Scotland, the 
land of hills and heather, have played important parts in the history of 
the United States, and it is something that justifies pride to be able to 
trace a direct Scotch ancestry. This good fortune belongs to Jay G. 
Buchan, one of Newcomb Township's best known and most esteemed citi- 
zens. His father and grandfather were natives of Scotland, but his own 
birth took place in Champaign County, Illinois, March 12, 1877, being 
the fourth in a family of six children born to Rahymond and Margaret 
(Buchan) Buchan. The survivors are: James, a farmer and stockman, 
residing at Clarion, Iowa, married Luzetta Thompson; Raymond, who is 
in the automobile business at Spencer, Iowa, married Mary Ann Peterson; 
Mary E., who resides with her younger brothers in Newcomb Township; 
Colin C. ; and Jay G. 

Rahymond Buchan, father of the above family, was born in 1830, in 
the parish of Alford, twenty-seven miles from Aberdeen, Scotland, a distance 
he thought nothing of covering on foot. He grew to manhood in his 
native parish and received excellent school instruction, the minister of the 
Presbyterian Church being his teacher, and the name of this church was 
the "Priory of Money Musk." It was an old landmark, having been 
erected in 1080 A. D., and the entrance to the tower was built of Norway 
pine. For 400 years the ancestors of Mr. Buchan had been laid to rest 
when their lives were spent in the cemetery adjoining this ancient house 
of God. Another noted relic of long ago which Mr. Buchan knew well 
in his boyhood days was known as "The Breda House," which was probably 
built in 1700 and stood two miles from the village of Alford. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 809 

Eahymond Buchan was about twenty-three years of age when he took 
passage on a sailing vessel at Glasgow bound for Montreal, Canada, which 
consumed eight weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean, but staunchly contended 
with every menace of the deep and safely landed its passengers. In June, 
1854, Mr. Buchan located in Savannah, Ohio, remained there one year, 
and then came on to Bloomington, Illinois. There he engaged to work 
for Isaac Funk, one of the pioneers of McLean County, with whom he 
remained eighteen months. He was anxious, however, to secure land, and 
although he had to go into debt for a part of the purchase price he then 
bought 120 acres in Newcomb Township, in 1866, this being the present 
home place of Jay G. Buchan. With the thrift that is a marked character- 
istic, and an exceedingly commendable one, of the Scotch race, Mr. Buchan 
kept adding to his acreage, tract by tract, until it aggregated 2,500 acres, 
situated variously in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. Mr. Buchan developed 
into a very wealthy man, but his reputation was founded on other things 
than his wealth. He was known far and wide for his neighborly kindness 
and his name was a synonym for integrity. Public office in his township 
was almost thrust upon him because of his known honesty, but he served 
willingly as school trustee and director because he took a deep concern in 
educational matters and his suggestions and advice were welcomed by his 
fellow officials because they were sensible and practical. He was a strict 
Presbyterian and not only kept faithful to the word but the spirit of the 
law. He passed away in the present home residence, which he built in 
1874, on March 23, 1907. His wife was born in Ashland County, Ohio, 
March 4, 1842, and died July 16, 1916, leaving behind her the memory 
of a beautiful, unselfish, helpful life. She was laid by the side of her hus- 
band in Shiloh Cemetery and a monument of Montello granite marks their 
last resting place. 

. Jay G. Buchan attended the public schools, but the larger part of his 
very liberal education has been self-secured through a love of reading. He 
early took an interest in his father's large farming operations and even in 
boyhood took pride in the fine herds of Shorthorn cattle that have been a 
feature of agricultural industry here. Mr. Buchan pays taxes on many 
acres of fine land, 876 acres lying in Champaign County and in Piatt 
County and 160 acres in Palo Alto County, Iowa. Although preferably 
independent in politics, he has served in public office when called upon to 
do so for the public benefit, being school director for three years and for 
eight years was a member of the drainage commission. He is an adherent 
of the Presbyterian Church and has been a liberal contributor to it and 
to other religious organizations. Mr. Buchan owns an Interstate touring 
car and with his brother and sister make it a means of pleasant relaxation 
on many occasions. 

OTIS G. HAWK, a native son of Champaign County, long identified with 
the agricultural enterprise of this section, has directed his efforts with such 
good purpose that now, at the age of fifty, he is able to retire and enjoy 
the comforts of a good town home in the village of St. Joseph. 

Mr. Hawk was born southeast of TJrbana, May 5, 1867, a son of Isaac 
and Mary F. (Hiett) Hawk. His parents were born and married in Ohio, 
and they came to Champaign County in the early days, where they endured 
many of the hardships incident to pioneer life. They were practical and 
successful farmers. In their family were four sons, Otis being the third. 

Mr. Hawk was educated in the Radebaugh school north of Philo, and 
growing to manhood on his father's farm he found in agriculture a voca- 
tion that satisfied his inclinations and furnished scope for his best 
endeavors. 

Mr. Hawk married Adda Turner. Mrs. Hawk was born at Millers- 



810 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

burg in Mercer County, Illinois, daughter of Eoss and Sarah (Boyd) 
Turner. It was while she was visiting friends in Champaign County that 
she met Mr. Hawk, and this acquaintance ripened into affection and love 
and terminated in their marriage. With the responsibilities of family upon 
him, Mr. Hawk settled on a farm in Stanton Township, buying eighty 
acres at $43.75 an acre. This land was quite barren of improvements, but 
with the best years of their lives before them Mr. and Mrs. Hawk deemed 
it no hardship to undertake its improvement, and the passing years have 
witnessed much work that is a permanent contribution to the prosperity 
of the county. Mr. Hawk cultivated the fields, set out fruit and shade 
trees, and gradually had his land in a condition up to the standard of Cham- 
paign County agriculture. He also bought 160 acres in Indiana, and still 
owns that, operating it under a tenant. For many years Mr. Hawk carried 
on intensive farming, grain and stock raising, handling the famous 0. I. C. 
hogs and Barred Rock poultry. He also showed a commendable interest 
in local schools and served as school director. 

One child was born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Hawk, Charles C. 
He grew to manhood, attended the home district school and the St. Joseph 
High School, and was just to the point where he could look forward to a 
life of promise and justify the hopes and expectations of his parents when 
death struck him down in September, 1910. He was then nearly nineteen 
years of age. 

In 1916 Mr. and Mrs. Hawk sold their farm and bought an attractive 
home on Main Street in the village of St. Joseph. Both of them are atten- 
tive members of the Prairie Hope Christian Church, with Rev. Simon 
Bennett as the present pastor. Mr. Hawk has filled the position of deacon 
in that church, and has liberally supported its every cause. Politically he 
is a Republican of liberal views and gives his support to principles rather 
than party. 

GEORGE CEPHUS WILLIAMS. There is no citizen of Condit Township 
who more thoroughly enjoys the esteem and respect of his fellow citizens 
than George Cephus Williams. He is a native of Champaign County and 
has spent nearly all his active years here. He now occupies one of the 
best homesteads in the township, and his home is one of attractive exterior 
and all the comforts and conveniences which make life worth living. His 
individual prosperity has not been accomplished without benefit to the 
community in which he has lived. This is attested by the fact of his 
service in various official responsibilities, and by his present office as town- 
ship supervisor. 

Mr. Williams was born October 9, 1868. He was next to the youngest 
in a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters, five of whom 
are still living. His parents were James Edward and Lavina (Linken- 
hoker) Williams. Of the living children the oldest is Mollie, wife of 
Richard Harvey, who is a coachmaker in the Chicago & Alton shops at 
Bloomington, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have one son. Edward, the 
second child, is a retired farmer at Bellflower, Illinois, and married Vina 
Hopkins. Emma, the third child, lives at Fisher, Illinois, is a member of 
the Christian Church there and the widow of Charles Bryan, and has two 
living children. The next in age is George C. Frank A. is an agricul- 
turist in Champaign County, and by his marriage to Miss Lulu Beatty has 
a son and a daughter. 

James Edward Williams, the father of these children, was born in Vir- 
ginia, grew up and received his education in and married a native of that 
State, and from there they came West to Indiana and a short time later 
to Champaign County, locating on a rented farm in Hensley Township. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 811 

He was a hard working man and eventually acquired a farm of his own 
and died in Piatt County when about fifty years of age. He was laid to 
rest in Mansfield Cemetery. His wife is also deceased. In politics he 
was a Democrat. 

George C. Williams had an uphill struggle during his earlier years, 
and most of his education has come by private study and as a result of 
experience. He was self-supporting when fifteen, and as a boy he fre- 
quently worked for wages as low as 20 cents a day. While still a single 
man he rented a farm in Piatt County, near Mansfield, where he remained 
two years, and then while boarding with his sister Emma he farmed a 
rented place in Newcomb Township of this county. With his brother 
Edward he then went to McLean County, and they were partners on a 
rented farm until Mr. Williams took upon himself the responsibilities of 
a home and family. 

On November 28, 1894, he married Miss Hattie Lee Taylor. While 
their other achievements deserve much credit, Mr. and Mrs. Williams may 
justly take the greatest pride in their fine family. Nine children were 
born to them, five sons and four daughters, and six are still living. Fred, 
still at home, has completed the course of the common schools and one year 
in the Fisher High School, and his inclinations in choice of a career are 
as a farmer. He is a member of the Christian Church. Mildred Bernice, 
the next in age, is a student in the Fisher High School and has taken 
musical instruction. . She is a member of the Christian Church. Lavina 
is now in the sixth grade of the common schools and has received musical 
training. Taylor is in the third grade of the public schools, James Edward 
has recently started to school, while the youngest and the baby of the family 
is Lee Cephus. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have submitted to many sacrifices 
in order that their children might have 'a good home and receive a good 
preparation for life's responsibilities. 

Mrs. Williams was born in Champaign County, March 2, 1870, a daugh- 
ter of Joseph Dudley and Nancy Belle (Spratt) Taylor. There were eleven 
children in the Taylor family, five sons and six daughters, and seven are 
still living. Joseph D. Taylor was born at Sharpsburg, Kentucky, was 
reared and educated in the Blue Grass State and married there, and came 
to Champaign County with his family in 1863-64. He has lived in this 
county for over half a century and by hard work has not only reared a fine 
family of children but has become possessor of 110 acres of rich farming 
land in the county. He is a Democrat and both he and his wife are active 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Mansfield. He is now 
eighty-two years of age, but his mind and intellect are still clear. His 
wife was born in Kentucky and died in October, 1913, her remains being 
at rest in Piatt County, where her family have erected an appropriate 
monument. Mrs. Williams received her education in the common schools 
and had prepared to take the teacher's examination, but duties at home 
prevented her from embarking on that career. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Williams started out to achieve 
success with only experience as their guide and with very little capital. 
They lived one year on a rented farm in Brown Township and then five 
years in Newcomb Township. It was not until 1906 that they were able 
to buy land of their own, eighty acres in Condit Township. A heavy obli- 
gation went with the purchase, but in less than ten years they had it all 
paid for and the farm now represents some of the best improvements and 
methods of management in the county. Mr. Williams now has twenty-five 
head of excellent horses, principally the English Shire. He has also raised 
with profit Poland China hogs, and he and his wife have become experts 
in the raising of 1 blooded poultry, their stock being the Buff Orpingtons. 



812 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Their birds have won two silver trophies in exhibition and Mr. Williams 
has a number of first and second premiums awarded his stock at State and 
county fairs. Each year he enters exhibits from his farm in the fairs of 
both Illinois and Indiana. The Williams farm bears the appropriate name 
of Sunnyside Farm. 

Mr. Williams was also one of the organizers and first stockholders of 
the Fisher Telephone Company and is now serving the company as treas- 
urer. He is a stockholder in the Champaign County Fair Association. 

Politically he is a Democrat and has been a delegate to various county 
conventions. In 1915 he was a delegate to the convention at Springfield 
of township supervisors, county clerks and probate judges. It was by the 
unanimous choice of his fellow citizens in Condit Township that he was 
elected to the office of supervisor. This is the chief township office in 
Illinois, and a better qualified man could not have been found in Condit 
Township. Mr. Williams is a very popular official, and both he and his 
wife have served some years as director of the local schools. He is affil- 
iated with Sangamon Lodge of Masons at Fisher, and is a charter member 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Bellflower. He also belongs 
to Champaign Chapter No. 50, R. A. M. They have contributed gener- 
ously of their means to the erection of the beautiful church of their choice 
at Fisher. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have practiced the principle of living 
well without extravagance. In earlier years they carried heavy obliga- 
tions, but are now comfortably situated, and among other things that make 
their life attractive for them is a fine Jeffreys touring car. 

JOHN RUSH RITTENHOTISE. Those acquainted with the substantial agri- 
cultural and stock raising activities of Champaign County scarcely need 
introduction to the name John Rush Rittenhouse. His fruitful and active 
years have been spent largely in northwestern Champaign County, and he 
is a native son of this section of Illinois. 

Mr. Rittenhouse was born January 26, 1870. The Rittenhouse ancestry 
is traced back to the German fatherland. His parents had six children, 
three sons and three daughters, and he was the third in order of birth and 
the second in age among the four still living. Of the living children he is 
the only one a resident of Champaign County. The oldest, Addie, is the 
wife of Dudley Herriott, an agriculturist at St. John, Michigan. Levi, the 
younger brother of Mr. Rittenhouse, is successfully engaged in agriculture 
and stock raising at Fan-field, Iowa. He finished his education in the 
Danville Normal School, was a teacher one year, and on examination took 
the highest mark in the county. He married Miss Mary Betts. Kate, the 
youngest of the children, is the wife of Charles Herriott, a farmer at Fair- 
field, Iowa. 

The parents of these children were Joseph Hill and Mary (Richards) 
Rittenhouse. The father was born at Roxabell, Ross County, Ohio, and 
spent his youth in that state, where he acquired a substantial education. He 
followed agriculture as his regular vocation until recent years, and he and 
his good wife are now living in comfortable retirement at Mahomet. He 
still owns 190 acres of the rich and fertile soil of Champaign County, and 
this farm is being successfully managed by his grandson, Tern Rittenhouse. 
Joseph Rittenhouse for several terms filled the office of township assessor, 
for years was a school director, and was a stanch upholder of education in 
every form. He came to Illinois in time to enlist in an Illinois regiment 
for service in the Civil War, and fought gallantly for the stars and stripes 
until mustered out and granted an honorable discharge. For years he has 
been a member of the Grand Army Post at Mahomet. His wife was born 
at Sidney, Ohio, and had a common school education. She was twelve 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 813 

years of age when she came to Illinois. Her father went to California in 
the days of '49, making the trip overland by wagon, and died while in the 
Golden State, a victim of cholera. Mrs. Joseph Rittenhouse has given her 
life to her family and her home. 

John E. Rittenhouse grew up on his father's farm in Champaign 
County. He attended the common schools and acquired a practical educa- 
tion as a foundation for life's serious responsibilities. At the age of 
twenty-one he took up 'an independent career, renting land and also working 
out by the day. For many months he worked at wages of a dollar a day. 
As a wage earner and renter he made slow but sure progress for a period of 
thirteen years. His first purchase of land was ninety-two acres in Mahomet 
Township. He went heavily into debt for this, to the extent of $2,800, but 
by his industry and with the aid of his capable wife he was able to come out 
free and he then traded and sold and bought his next farm near Mahomet, 
consisting of ninety-three acres. This he soon afterward sold and then 
bought 120 acres included in his present homestead. He subsequently 
added another eighty acres, and has it all well developed as a first class 
model stock farm. Besides his possession in Champaign County 
Mr. Rittenhouse owns 107 acres in Tennessee and 100 acres in Lapeer 
County, Michigan. This land is in the midst of the sugar beet district. 
It is thirty-five miles from Detroit and thirty miles from Port Huron, 
Michigan, and in one of the best agricultural districts of the state. . 

Mr. Rittenhouse for a number of years has made a specialty of Shrop- 
shire sheep and Shire horses. His stock has won several silver cups, and he 
has exhibited at stock shows and fairs in Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis 
and in the fairs of Kankakee and Champaign counties. One of his horses 
of special class was Mahomet Teddy, an animal for which he paid $2,000. 
Mr. Rittenhouse has also interested himself in various other lines of busi- 
ness. That he is one of the successful men of Champaign County needs no 
further proof than what has already been noted in a brief way. 

On December 31, 1891, Mr. Rittenhouse married Miss Ida Elvada Stout. 
To their marriage were born a son and two daughters. The son and one 
daughter still live. Vern Ralph, the only son, has found a place and posi- 
tion among the successful young agriculturists of Champaign County. He 
was graduated with the class of 1915 and at the head of his class in the 
Mahomet High School. During his school career there was a period of five 
years in which he never missed a day from his school work and was never 
tardy. He is now the capable manager of his grandfather's farm. He 
married Miss Ruth Miner. She is a member of the Baptist Church, while 
he is a Methodist. Ruth Marie, the only daughter, has finished the work 
of the common schools and is now in the second year of the high school at 
Mahomet. She has also taken instrumental music. She is quite active in 
the Pathfinders, a literary society maintained as one of the adjuncts of the 
Baptist Church. 

Mrs. Rittenhouse was born in Champaign County June 21, 1870. She 
was the youngest of three children and the only one still living. Her father 
was born in Illinois, was an agriculturist, and made a success of life with 
only a common school education. For a number of years he lived in Illinois 
and afterward went to Nebraska and Iowa, and died at Marshalltown in the 
latter state in 1910. His death occurred at the Old Soldiers' Home. He 
had fought with an Illinois regiment in the Civil War until honorably 
discharged, and was a very active member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic. His wife, also a native of Illinois, died when Mrs. Rittenhouse 
was an infant. Mrs. Rittenhouse grew up in the home of her aunt, Nancy 
Nelson. She attended the common schools, and in church matters is a 
member of the United Brethren Church at Oak Grove in Newcomb Town- 
ship. 

219 



814 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. and Mrs. Eittcnhouse have taken great pains to prepare and educate 
their children for useful and honorable careers. Mr. Rittenhouse with the 
interest of his own children in mind has done all he could to promote good 
schools and for eight years was a director of his home district. Politically 
he is a Republican and cast his first vote for William McKinley. The home 
of Mr. and Mrs. Rittenhouse in Newcomb Township is known as The Blue 
Ribbon Stock Farm. It lies four miles northwest of Mahomet, ten miles 
from Fisher and five miles from Mansfield. It is the center of profitable 
industry as well as a fine country home, is a source of pride to Mr. and 
Mrs. Rittenhouse and a valuable exposition of the art of agriculture and 
stock husbandry for the entire community. 

ROY R. CLINE, one of the younger members of the Champaign County 
Bar, had as preliminary to his practice a number of years of experience in 
the patent office at Washington, D. C., carrying on his law studies in the 
national capital at the same time, and now besides his general practice, 
he is serving as inheritance tax attorney for the District of Piatt, Cham- 
paign and Moultrie counties. He was appointed to this position in Febru- 
ary, 1917, by Attorney General Brundage. 

Mr. Cline is a native of Illinois, born in Piatt County October 22, 
1884, a son of Jacob H. and Josephine (Knott) Cline. His father was 
born in Piatt County and his mother in Cook County, Illinois. Jacob 
Cline was a merchant and banker, spent practically all his life in Piatt 
County, and died there August 29, 1913. The mother is now living in 
Urbana. They were the parents of five children: Anna, wife of James 
Stevens, of Urbana; Minnie, wife of Jerry Purcell, of Piatt County; 
Corria, an osteopathic physician in Piatt County; Ona, of Piatt -County; 
and Roy. 

Roy R. Cline had a good education during his youth and paid his own 
way while preparing for the profession of the law. He attended the high 
school at White Heath, Illinois, two years, also the Urbana High School, 
and spent one year in the State Normal School at Normal. He had a 
couple years' experience as a teacher in Piatt County. In 1906 he came 
to Champaign and subsequently took a Civil Service examination and 
was appointed Examiner of Trade Marks in the patent office at Wash- 
ington, D. C. He held that position five years. In the meantime he 
studied law in the law department of Georgetown University in the District 
of Columbia and was graduated LL. B. in 1911 and with his Master's degree 
in 1912. 

Mr. Cline returned to Champaign County in the spring of 1913, and 
began practice at Urbana with Franklin H. Boggs, now Circuit Judge. 
Since the fall of 1913 he has been located in Champaign and has rapidly 
gained a secure position in the law. 

Mr. Cline married November 7, 1907, Miss Lena E. Dove, a native of 
Piatt County. They have two children, Josephine Catherine and Max 
Jacob. 

> 

CHARLES CHENOWETH. The name of Chenoweth is one held in high 
regard in Champaign County because it has always been borne by men of 
sterling traits of character who have led honorable and useful lives. A 
worthy and well known representative of this old pioneer family is found 
in Char-les Chenoweth, who resides on his well improved farm of eighty 
acres, which is situated in Newcomb Township. Peace, plenty, thrift and 
prosperity are in evidence both within his hospitable residence and on the 
farm, and here may be found convincing proof that farm life in modern 
days may be wholesome, profitable and happy. 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 815 

Charles Chenoweth has lived in Illinois since he was a boy, but his 
birth took place March 15, 1857, in Pike County, Ohio. His parents were 
James P. and Maria (Eagen) Chenoweth, the paternal ancestry being 
traceable to England. James P. Chenoweth was born in Darke County, 
Ohio, September 8, 1829, and died in Illinois, October 24, 1915. He grew 
to manhood in Darke County and in boyhood had some school advantages, 
but as he was one of a family of thirteen children, self-support early 
became a necessity. He learned the tanner's trade and worked on a farm 
in Ohio up to 1859, when, with his family, he came to Illinois, making the 
long journey in a covered wagon in pioneer style, bringing along the house- 
hold goods. Mr. Chenoweth rented land at first in Logan County, about 
six miles from Lincoln, but in 1868 he came to Champaign County and 
purchased forty acres in Newcomb Township, although forced to borrow 
the money to pay for it. This land he improved and later sold to advantage 
and subsequently, in partnership with his sons, purchased 308 acres in 
McLean County, a fine body of land which the family still owns. He was 
alive to every favorable movement in his section, political, religious or 
educational. He was a Eepublican from principle and frequently was 
elected by that party to local offices, in which he served honestly and faith- 
fully. For years he was a road commissioner when that office meant pro- 
viding for the construction of highways through forests and over brawling 
streams that overran their banks in times of freshets, and also for their 
preservation in good order. He also was a school director in those days 
when schoolhouses were few and far apart, when teachers were difficult to 
secure and when the people were apt to consider school taxes unnecessary 
burdens. These conditions in some sections have not been altogether 
changed, but more stringent laws now stand behind the officeholder. In 
Ohio he had joined the fraternal order of Odd Fellows and he maintained 
an interest in the organization until the close of life. His remains were 
interred in Eiverside Cemetery in Mahomet, Illinois. 

James P. Chenoweth married in Ohio Maria Began, who was born in 
Pike County, that State, May 15, 1833, and died January 18, 1902, and 
was laid to rest in Riverside Cemetery, where a beautiful stone marks the 
family burying ground. She was a woman of many virtues and was a 
devout member of the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church. To this mar- 
riage two sons and three daughters were born, the surviving children being : 
Lydia E., who is the widow of W. H. Hubbard, lives at Conway Springs, 
Kansas; Charles; Bertha, who is the wife of W. M. Hinton, who carries 
on a hardware and implement business in Rockwell City, Iowa ; and Lillian, 
who is a resident of McLean County, Illinois. She is a highly educated 
lady, a graduate of the State Normal University, and has spent a number 
of years in educational work. She, like all other members of the family, 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Charles Chenoweth was eleven years old when he accompanied his 
parents to Champaign County and he attended the public schools in boy- 
hood, afterward remaining with his parents until his marriage, giving 
them filial care and attention. 

Mr. Chenoweth married April 21, 1897, Miss Maria M. Lanam, who 
was born in Newcomb Township, Champaign County, Illinois, December 
14, 1871. Her parents were Stewart and Eliza Jane (Wyant) Lanam, the 
former of whom was born in Noble County, Ohio, July 20, 1836, and died 
in Illinois, an -honored veteran of the Civil War, April 4, 1916. His early 
boyhood was passed in Ohio and afterward he lived in Indiana, and from 
that State enlisted for service in the Civil War, becoming a member of the 
Third Indiana Cavalry, which was attached to the Army of the Cumberland. 
He served under General ("Pap") Thomas, a beloved commander, and took 



816 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

part in the battles of Chickamauga and Stone River and also accompanied 
General Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea. After three years 
of valorous service, during which he was fortunate enough to escape both 
wounds and imprisonment, he was honorably discharged. In 1868 he came 
to Champaign County and acquired 240 acres located in Newcomb and 
Brown townships. In his early manhood he was a Democrat in his polit- 
ical views, but later became a Prohibitionist, as he was an earnest advocate 
of temperance. He had membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church 
and belonged to the post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Fisher. 
He married Eliza Jane Wyant, who was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, 
August 24, 1845, and died in Champaign County, July 15, 1916. They 
had five children, one son and four daughters, all of whom reside in Cham- 
paign County. Mrs. Chenoweth was the second born and was educated 
in the public schools. She is a lady of most engaging personality, good, 
true, kind and womanly, and makes her home a place of content and 
comfort for all who come within its walls. Two children have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Chenoweth, Russell L. and Ruth A. The son at the time 
of writing has already passed one year of his high school course and is 
much interested in his studies, particularly mathematics and history. The 
daughter has advanced to the eighth grade in the Fisher public schools 
and is also being instructed in music, it being the intention of Mr. and 
Mrs. Chenoweth to give their children every possible advantage. 

In politics Mr. Chenoweth has always been identified with the Repub- 
lican party. He cast his first presidential vote for James A. Garfield and 
since then many other noble public men have had his support. He takes 
an interest in all that concerns his township and neighborhood and is espe- 
cially active in the matter of public schools and has served as a school 
director for many years. With his family he belongs to the Shiloh Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church and all are willing helpers in promoting its various 
avenues of usefulness. 

M. M. HAHRY, whose home is on Route No. 5 out of Urbana, is one of 
the honored veterans, a sergeant, of the Civil War still living in Champaign 
County, and has made his own career of industry count for a great deal in 
the development of this section during the past half century. 

Mr. Harry was born in Lewis County, Kentucky, January 8, 1844, the 
third in a family of sixteen children born to Joseph M. and Lucinda 
(Ruggles) Harry. His parents were both natives of Kentucky. When 
M. M. Harry was four years of age he came to Illinois, locating in the town 
of Urbana, where his father followed the trade of carpenter. Several of the 
children died young, and of those who attained maturity M. M. Harry had 
the following brothers and sisters : H. James, who was a soldier in the Civil 
War; Wilson and Harkness, who own a foundry at Gibson City, Illinois; 
Oscar ; Etna Roby of Danville : Bertha M., who died several years ago ; and 
Francis M., a Methodist Episcopal minister living at Bloomington, Illinois. 

M. M. Harry received his early education in the public schools of 
Urbana. He was seventeen years of age when the war broke out, and late 
in 1862 he responded to the call for troops to put down the rebellion and 
enlisted with other neighbor boys at Urbana in Company I of the Sixteenth 
Illinois Cavalry, under Captain Jackson of Kankakee. They were mustered 
in at Springfield and kept in training at Camp Butler for a time, then sent 
to southern Illinois and soon got into action in Kentucky. On one of the 
scouting raids made . by his regiment through Lee County, Virginia, 
Mr. Harry and his comrades to the number of 185 were all captured. He 
was first sent to Lynchburg, Virginia, then to Richmond, and spent two 
months in the prison camp at Belle Isle in the James River. From there 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 817 

they were sent to Andersonville, and in that notorious stockade suffered 
everything that human beings could be called upon to endure. For more 
than eleven months he was a prisoner of war. From Ande'rsonville he was 
removed to Florence, South Carolina, and as at that time Sherman's army 
was rapidly advancing across the Carolinas the prisoners were kept moving. 
Finally the order came to exchange 10,000 sick and convalescent prisoners, 
and they were paroled at Benton Barracks in St. Louis. Unable to do fur- 
ther service on account of their weakened condition, they were kept at dif- 
ferent points and Mr. Harry was finally discharged at Nashville, Tennesseej 
and mustered out at Chicago. He was in the army nearly three years, from 
December 3, 1862, until August 2, 1865. 

On January 9, 1868, Mr. Harry married Olivine Billing. She was born 
in Champaign County, Illinois, daughter of David Dilling. After their 
marriage Mr. and Mrs. Harry engaged in farming at Big Grove, Illinois. 
Two children were born to their marriage : Olivine, who died in infancy ; 
and Effie May. Effie May is now the wife of Samuel Somers. Her children 
are Harry Kerr, Francis M., Ralph, Joseph and Dorothy. 

On March 81, 1873, five years after their marriage, the death angel 
entered the Harry home and Mrs. Harry entered into rest. On October 30, 
1877, Mr. Harry married Mary J. Boyd. She was born in Urbana Township, 
daughter of James W. and Frances (Rhoades) Boyd, the former a native 
of Kentucky and the latter of Illinois. In the Boyd family were the fol- 
lowing children: John W., deceased; William M., deceased; Sarah E. 
Strover of Sacramento, California ; and Alfred, who died at the age of 
twenty. Mrs. Harry also had two half sisters and a half brother: 
Mrs. William Jones of Urbana; Frank Boyd of Alma, Michigan; and 
Florence Sperling, now deceased. 

Mrs. Harry with her brothers and sisters were educated in the public 
fchools of Urbana Township. Mr. and Mrs. Harry have four children, 
Frances, Mary Ethel, James Lewis and Daisy E. Realizing the advantages 
of good training, Mr. and Mrs. Harry gave them a good education, finishing 
in the high school at Urbana. The daughter Frances is now the wife of 
Arthur L. Aiken, and they live at San Diego, California, where Mr. Aiken 
is employed in a furniture store. They have an adopted daughter, Leona. 
Mary E. married Ralph T. Smith, a practical farmer in Urbana Township, 
and their family consists of four children. Rollin, Harry, Mary and Rex. 
The son, James Lewis, is still at home with his parents. Daisy E. married 
Frank 0. Edwards, who is in the baking business at Dayton, Ohio. They 
have one child, Lois. 

Progressiveness has always been the keynote in the career of Mr. Harry. 
He has gained sufficient material success and all the time has had by his 
side a good wife to give him advice and Christian counsel. While they 
began life as renters, he made his first purchase of twenty-eight acres and 
used that as a nucleus of a permanent home. Mrs. Harry is a member of 
the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Urbana. Politically Mr. Harry is 
a Democrat and has served as school director, supervisor and road commis- 
sioner. Mrs. Harry is a most energetic woman, and has been enthusi- 
astically a worker for the cause of temperance and prohibition and has 
never failed to lift her voice and use her -influence toward the progress of 
that movement which even now is finding results in an almost total abolition 
of the liquor traffic. Mrs. Harry's great-grandmother was a cousin of Presi- 
dent Zachary Taylor. In the passing years Mr. and Mrs. Harry's careers 
and work have been closely identified with Champaign County. They have 
endeared themselves to the community by their neighborly acts of kindness 
and their home has always been a center of true hospitality. 



818 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

CYRUS E. JACKSON. In an enumeration of the magnificent resources 
of Champaign County too much cannot be said of the banks and the bankers, 
since without their functions and their power all industry would soon be 
paralyzed. In this group of live and enterprising business men stands 
Cyrus E. Jackson, cashier of the Dewey Bank at Dewey. Mr. Jackson has 
been identified with that center of trade and population for a number of 
years, and is not only a banker but a merchant and one of the leading men 
in public affairs. 

Though a resident of Champaign County most of his life, Mr. Jackson 
was born in Piatt County, Illinois, September 4, 1872. He is a son of 
Isaac A. and Adaline (Smith) Jackson. Of their family of three sons and 
two daughters, three are still living. Isaac A. Jackson was born in Indiana 
in 1843 and died very suddenly in 1906. When he was ten years of age he 
accompanied his parents from Indiana to Illinois, the family locating near 
Farmer City. Grandfather Jackson was one of the early settlers in that 
part of central Illinois. Isaac Jackson acquired only a common school 
education and applied his efforts in a practical and energetic fashion to 
farming throughout his active career. At the time of his death he owned 
260 acres of the splendid soil of Champaign County. This branch of the 
Jackson family is of English origin, the lineage being traced directly back 
to old England. Isaac Jackson was reared in the atmosphere of Whig 
politics when a boy, and on coming of age joined the Republican party and 
cast his first vote for Lincoln, the great war president. He himself had 
fought as a gallant soldier in the Civil War for three years, being finally 
discharged on account of disability. He enlisted with a regiment of Illinois 
cavalry, and though present and a participant in many hard fought battles 
was never wounded nor taken prisoner. He and his wife were long active 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Champaign, to which city 
they had retired in 1898. Isaac Jackson was also an honored member of 
the Grand Army post at Fisher, Illinois. His wife was a native of Indiana 
and her parents were of English extraction. Both Isaac Jackson and wife 
are buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Champaign. 

Cyrus E. Jackson was two years old when his parents removed to Cham- 
paign County. He is self-educated and early learned to depend on his 
own exertions as the key to substantial success. Up to the age of twenty- 
three he remained on his father's farm, and during that time acquired a 
thoroughly practical experience as a farmer, which has been utilized in his 
later career in the supervision of his own land. After his marriage he 
left home but continued farming until the fall of 1901. At that time he 
became a salesman in the large general store of Mr. Rome at Fisher, but 
on August 1, 1902, he established a small general store of his own at 
Dewey. This business he rapidly developed with corresponding increase of 
trade territory. In January, 1912, the store, containing a stock of $10,000 
worth of goods, was destroyed by fire. Though he was protected by insur- 
ance to the value of $7,500, the fire proved a heavy loss and inconvenience. 
Since 1903 Mr. Jackson, in connection with his store, has conducted a 
banking business and after the fire he devoted all his time to banking and 
gave up his active career as a merchant. 

On December 18, 1895, Mr. Jackson married Miss Clara Rome. They 
have three children: Cecil, who is in the eighth grade of the Dewey 
schools; Xeva, also in the eighth grade and a student of music; and Lyle, 
the youngest, who is in the first year of the primary schools. Mr. and Mrs. 
Jackson are taking great pains to give their children thorough and adequate 
educational advantages. 

Mrs. Jackson was born in Bellflower, Illinois, June 6, 1878. She was 
educated in the public schools. Her parents were Robert and Agnes 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 819 

(Brown) Eome. Her father was for many years one of the leading gen- 
eral merchants at Fisher in Champaign County, and since his death the 
large store has been continued successfully by his widow and their son. 
Both of Mrs. Jackson's parents were born in the land of the thistle and 
heather, Scotland. Mr. Jackson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, while his wife belongs to the Christian denomination. 

For a number of years Mr. Jackson has been before the public both as a 
business man and as a citizen, and has gained the complete confidence of 
all who know him. His banking house at Dewey has been maintained at a 
high standard, has a notable record of integrity and solidity, and its patrons 
are among the wealthiest farmers of this locality. In politics Mr. Jackson 
began voting as a Eepublican and has continued so to the present time. 
His first presidential ballot was given to President McKinley. He has 
served as supervisor of his township for eleven years and is still in office. 
He was also one of the main factors in urging his fellow citizens to con- 
struct good roads, the crying need of the central Illinois farming district 
today, and especially in the corn belt, where the heavy rich black soil grows 
a wealth of crops but is not a natural road material. 

Fraternally Mr. Jackson is affiliated with Sangamon Lodge No. 801, 
A. F. & A. M., at Fisher. Besides his bank Mr. Jackson has a fine farm 
of 120 acres, and he also has the management of 960 acres for non-resident 
property owners from Chicago. This extensive body of land is situated 
in East Bend Township of Champaign County. 

For several years Mr. Jackson has also been in the automobile business 
at Dewey, in partnership with Harry Hamm. They conduct the leading 
garage and are agents for the Ford car. These young gentlemen are doing 
a fine business and besides their capital they are known as obliging, cordial 
and genial men with, hosts of warm friends. In 1906 Mr. and Mrs. Jackson 
erected their modern residence in Dewey. It is a home of comfort, where 
they extend their hospitality to their many friends. 

F. M. FAGALY, a retired resident of St. Joseph, has many interesting 
distinctions, not least among which is the fact that he served more than 
three years in the Union Army during the Civil War. Mr. Fagaly and his 
family are widely known in Champaign County, where through all the 
years their names have been associated with that industry and good citizen- 
ship which are the bulwark of American institutions. 

Mr. Fagaly was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, not far from the city 
of Cincinnati, a son of John and Mary (Stewart) Fagaly. His parents 
were also natives of Ohio. The Fagaly family is of German origin. An 
interesting story is told concerning his grandfather. He was a German 
youth who lived in the kingdom of Wuertemberg. He became acquainted 
with one of the daughters of the king of Wuertemberg and their acquaint- 
ance ripened into love. All the traditions and customs of the family for 
centuries prohibited the marriage of a royal daughter out of caste, since 
Grandfather Fagaly was a commoner. The young people determined to 
brave the wrath of the king, were married secretly, and eloped to America. 
The young princess was determined that her lot should be cast with her 
true love, and she was not afraid of the perils of a new adventure in a 
strange land. Coming to America, they settled at Cincinnati, where, though 
possessed of limited means, they had those characteristics which soon 
brought them a home, comfort, and the substantial honors of citizenship. 

Mr. Fagaly's mother, Mary Stewart, was the daughter of a Mrs. 
MacElroy. This grandmother of Mr. Fagaly lived in Indiana. She was 
born in what is now a part of New York City. When a girl she was bereft 
of her parents, was reared by strangers, came to Indiana and lived a long 



820 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

and useful life. As old age came on she was comparatively helpless and 
went to live with her children. One son, William Stewart, in anticipation 
of his mother's coming, erected a new house with a special room for her 
convenience and comfort. She had just got located in this house when the 
building took fire and burned to the ground, and the old lady, who was then 
one hundred and seven years of age, was unable to escape and was burned 
to death. 

F. M. Fagaly was one of seven children. He obtained his early educa- 
tion in the district schools of Hamilton County, Ohio. He grew to manhood 
on his father's farm, and had acquired considerable knowledge of that 
industry before he entered the army.' 

He was nineteen years of age when he volunteered and went to Camp 
Dennison, eighteen miles from Cincinnati, where he was enrolled in Com- 
pany K of the Eighty-third Ohio Infantry. With this regiment he marched 
away to the front and first took part in the campaign to protect Cincinnati 
from the second invasion of Kirby Smith. Kirby Smith had tried to cap- 
ture and destroy Cincinnati, but the Federal troops gave him a merry chase 
and caused a complete change in his plan. Mr. Fagaly and his comrades 
fought at Camp Orchard, were then ordered back to Louisville, took boat to 
Memphis, and during the year 1862 did much patrol duty up and down the 
Mississippi from Island No. 10 to Vicksburg. He was part of Sherman's 
great army in the Vicksburg campaign. It will be recalled that the first 
plan to reduce that Mississippi stronghold was an expedition up the Yazoo 
Rivier, allowing the troops to attack the city in the rear. The culmination 
of this was the battle of Haines Bluff, where the Union troops suffered 
heavy losses. Sherman was greatly criticized for this part of the campaign, 
but his troops loved him and, as Mr. Fagaly says, would have waded through 
fire and blood to follow their leader. After Haines Bluff Mr. Fagaly's regi- 
ment was ordered back to Arkansas Post and captured that entire garrison 
of 3,000 prisoners. His next duty was at Young's Point in Indiana and 
soon afterward he and his comrades were employed in the famous under- 
taking of digging a canal to divert the waters of the Mississippi. This 
occurred during the winter of 1862-63. It was an open winter, the waters 
of the river were very high, and after completing the work within half a 
mile of the river bank the floods broke through the narrow retaining wall 
and the next day the main current of the Mississippi River was sweeping 
down the canal. About 100,000 Federal troops were in the vicinity of 
Young's Point and thousands of them were working night and day in the 
digging of the canal, which they considered a pleasant diversion in spite of 
its actual hardships. The Confederates believed that Vicksburg was so 
strongly fortified that it could never be taken by the Union troops. Grant 
dug this canal so as to get his boats and supplies down to New Orleans 
unimpeded by the fire of the Vicksburg batteries. The canal enabled the 
boats to pass by the fortress without incurring any material damage from 
the batteries. The Confederates had only one gun that could reach the 
forces at work on the canal, and the Union troops called this the "Whistling 
Dick." Mr. Fagaly was witness, along with thousands of other Union 
troops, of one of the picturesque incidents of this campaign. A dummy 
boat was loaded above Vicksburg, consisting of two immense flatboats, piled 
high with man}' barrels, in all of which were placed lighted candles. When 
this grotesque structure floated down in range of the Vicksburg batteries 
all the guns opened fire. It was a dark night and the illumination from 
the flashing guns was a spectacle which Mr. Fagaly will never forget. At 
that time General Pemberton, the commander at Vicksburg, had a great 
gunboat which the Union forces dreaded more than anything else. Believing 
that the dummy flatboats were the entire Union fleet, Pemberton ordered 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 821 

his gunboat blown up to prevent its falling into the hands of the Federal 
forces. 

In all these exciting adventures Mr. Fagaly continued until April, 1863, 
when he and his command were sent below Grand Gulf to a place called 
Hard Times Landing, a shipping point where a great cargo of cotton was 
stored. On May 1, 1863, he' fought in the first battle of the main attack 
upon Vicksburg and after that was under continuous fire every day until 
ttje 4th of July, when Pemberton surrendered his war worn forces and the 
Union troops entered the city and saw the stars and bars hauled down from 
the courthouse and the stars and stripes raised instead. Thus he had part 
in the campaign which even more than Gettysburg broke the back of the 
rebellion. 

After Vicksburg Mr. Fagaly was at New Orleans, and while there was 
with the troops ordered to cross Lake Pontchartrain and attack a small fort. 
They captured this fort with 300 prisoners and returned with them to New 
Orleans. The troops were then ordered to Pensacola, Florida, and to Fort 
Blakely, Alabama, which after withstanding an eight day siege, surrendered 
to the Union forces. This occurred about the time Lee's army surrendered 
in Virginia, and that was practically the close of the war. From Alabama 
Mr. Fagaly and his comrades were sent to Galveston, Texas, again to combat 
the wily Kirby Smith, who was making his last stand in the Southwest. 
Mr. Fagaly remained in Texas until sent back to Camp Dennison, where 
he was discharged, after giving three years and ten days of service to the 
Union. He arrived home in August, 1865. 

On August 14, 1866, Mr. Fagaly married Miss Caroline L. Shafer, a girl 
with whom he had grown up in southern Ohio. They then settled near 
Cincinnati in Hamilton County, where he engaged in farming for a year, 
after which he moved to Indiana. Mr. Fagaly enjoyed the companionship 
of his first wife only four years. She was taken away by death in 1870, the 
mother of one child, Emma Catherine. This daughter married William 
Greiser, and they live on a farm near Cincinnati. She is the mother of five 
sons, Edwin, Clarence, Clifford, Elmer and William. 

For his second wife Mr. Fagaly married Elizabeth Buzon. She was born 
near Loogootee in Daviess County, Indiana, a daughter of George and 
Brasilia (Perkins) Buzon, who were also natives of Indiana. After their 
marriage Mr. and Mrs. Fagaly settled on a farm in Elnora, Indiana, where 
he combined farming with teaching. For thirteen winters he taught in the 
district schools. 

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Fagaly : Cora, Arminta, Ella, 
Callie, Pearl, Eoy, William and Edwin. These children were well educated 
in the high school at Worthington, Indiana. As they grew up they settled 
down in life for themselves, and a brief account of their family and where- 
abouts is as follows : Cora is the wife of Frank Locke, and they live on a 
farm near Fort Wayne, Indiana, and have two children, Nellie and Carl. 
The latter, Carl Locke, a grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Fagaly, is keeping up 
the record of the family in patriotism and loyalty, and is a Volunteer in the 
United States Army in Company D now drilling at Champaign preparatory 
for service against Germany. Arminta married William Harris; they live 
at St. Joseph and have one child, Hallie. Ella is the wife of Charles Locke, 
a farmer at Bondville in Champaign County, and they have two children, 
Floyd and Louise. Callie married Benjamin McLoughlin, an undertaker 
at St. Joseph. Pearl is the wife of Samuel Schofield, a grain merchant at 
Mahomet, their five children being Edwin, Howard, Dorothy, Donald and 
Dale. Eoy is an extensive stock buyer and shipper and in the retail meat 
business at Philo, Illinois. He married Hazel Stayton, and their two chil- 
dren are Helen and James. The son William is proprietor of a grocery 



822 HISTOKY OP CHAMPAIGN COUXTY 

and meat business at Flat Eock, Illinois, and married Ada Dwyer. Edwin, 
the youngest child, is a farmer at Philo and married Lois Thompson of 
Homer. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fagaly are active members of the Christian Church at 
St. Joseph. In politics he votes the straight Republican ticket, and he 
believes that his political record is almost unique in Champaign County. 
With his sons and his sons-in-law he constitutes a voting strength of sixteen 
when the time comes to elect a President or governor. Mr. Fagaly is a 
charter member of the Grand Army Post at Worthington, Indiana, and has 
always taken a great interest in army affairs and his old comrades of the 
war. He was with the Union forces at a time when military life made a 
strong impress upon his mind and character, and in all the years since he 
has successfully endeavored to instill in his children the principles of 
loyalty which he himself exemplified. For many years he has had by his 
side a good woman, a Christian character, and one who has been in close 
sympathy with his life and work. Mr. and Mrs. Fagaly now enjoy the 
comforts of a pleasant home on Sherman Street in the village of St. Joseph. 

WILLIAM ALLISOST HIXTOX. There is no better known citizen, nor 
one whose work and public services are more appreciated, than William A. 
Hinton of Newcomb Township. His career is significant of that industry 
and energy which suffice to carry a man from a position among the many 
into the ranks of the successful few. Champaign County has scores of 
men who through the domain of agriculture have accumulated a share in 
such prosperity as few other sections of the United States enjoy, and 
Mr. Hinton's present position is the more creditable because it has been 
won not by inheritance but through his own steady toil. 

His loyalty to Champaign County is enhanced by the fact that he is 
a native of this rich and fertile section of Illinois. He was born November 
26, 1857, the third in a large family of thirteen children. Seven of these 
children are still living and all of them but one have their homes in New- 
comb Township. His father, Daniel F. G. Hinton, was born in Clinton 
County, Indiana, was reared there and attended the common schools, and 
after his marriage he moved in 1854 to Champaign County. This trip was 
made in true pioneer style, with wagon and team. The father had no 
capital to begin on and started at the very bottom of the ladder as a renter. 
After renting for a few years he bought 120 acres in section 18 of Newcomb 
Township. Not a furrow had been turned in the virgin soil. It was a raw 
and new neighborhood, and at that time only two other houses were in the 
locality. A part of the old building he first erected for his home is still 
standing on the premises. After selling this land to Mr. Buchan he 
removed to section 16 and bought eighty acres and then another similar 
tract, and was profitably engaged in its management and cultivation until 
he retired into Fisher, where he and his wife spent their last days. The 
father was a Jeffersonian Democrat. For years he served as township 
trustee and tax collector, and was a director of the local school twenty-one 
years. He was a fine type of citizen, one whose example and work brought 
about increasing betterment. He respected the true Christianity and his 
career was altogether exemplary. Both he and his wife are now at rest 
in the Willow Brook Cemetery, where a monument stands sacred to their 
memory. Mother Hinton was also a native of Indiana, gained her educa- 
tion there in the common schools, and gave her life to the welfare of her 
children and her home was her joy. 

William Allison Hinton grew up on his father's farm in Champaign 
County. With his own eyes he has witnessed the remarkable develop- 
ment of this part of the State. Land that he now owns and part of which 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 823 

cost only $28 an acre is now of such value that it could not be bought for 
less than $275 an acre. Wholesale changes have been made in the country 
and its industries within his lifetime. He had reached manhood before the 
first telephones were brought into Champaign County, and from time to 
time he himself has utilized in his home or on his farm the modern imple- 
ments of industry, including the high power automobile. He fitted himself 
for life's serious responsibilities largely through his own exertions, and 
has acquired more education by experience and reading than he did from 
the local schools. The first money he ever earned was 50 cents a day 
drawing straw from the threshing machine. That first 50 cents benefited 
him little, since he lost it soon after earning it. As a wage earner he 
worked for several years, then rented land and finally was able to make 
his first purchase. He went in debt for part of the payment of this forty 
acres. Later he and his brother Winfield bought eighty acres in partner- 
ship, and in time Mr. Hinton bought his brother's interest. He paid up all 
his debts, and then added more land until his present place comprises 160 
acres. For forty acres of this he paid $125 an acre. All the buildings on 
his farm have been erected by him or under his direct management, and 
he now has his magnificent rural home all paid for. He formerly owned 
a quarter section of land in the province of Ontario, Canada. The estate 
of Mr. and Mrs. Hinton in Newcomb Township bears the appropriate name 
of Park Lawn, and besides its superior comforts it has everywhere the sign 
and atmosphere of hospitality. 

On September 18, 1883, Mr. Hinton married Miss Eose Shoppell. 
Two sons have been born to their union, and Mr. and Mrs. Hinton have 
taken the greatest of care in instilling in them the correct principles of 
living and guiding their useful ways to honor and integrity. James Myron, 
the older of these sons, is an agriculturist in Newcomb Township. He was 
educated in the common schools and has proved himself a practical man 
in his vocation. He married Miss Agnes Austin, and they have a little 
daughter, Helen Louise. James M. Hinton is a Democrat, a member of 
the Masonic order, belonging to Mahomet Lodge, and he and his wife are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is now serving as school 
treasurer and tax collector, and has been treasurer of the school district 
six years. 

Eobert Wirt Hinton, the second son, is a practical farmer in Condit 
Township. He was educated in the common schools, the high school and 
Brown's Business College. He married Miss Zora Daly, and their happy 
companionship was terminated with her death on May 23, 1917. She left 
a little daughter, Lyla Marie. Mrs. E. W. Hinton's remains are at rest 
in Mount Hope Cemetery at Champaign. Eobert W. Hinton is a member 
of the Masonic order at Fisher, Illinois, and he and his wife were regular 
- attendants of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Mrs. William A. Hinton was born in Champaign County, April 11, 
1858. She is the sixth in a family of eight children, one son and seven 
daughters, born to Jackson and Mary Ann (Starling) Shoppell. Of the 
four children living Mrs. Hinton is the only one in Champaign County. 
Her father was born in Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania German stock. His 
birth occurred April 18, 1820, and he died in Champaign County, March 28, 
1864. He was a young man when he came to Champaign County and had 
married in Ohio. By trade he was a carpenter, and he aided in the con- 
struction of many early buildings in this county. He was buried in the 
old cemetery at Mahomet. He was a Democrat, and he and his wife were 
members of the Methodist Church, in which he served as class leader. 
His wife was born and reared in Ohio. Mrs. Hinton attended the common 
schools of Champaign County and was well educated. She has been a 



824 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

most faithful wife and mother, and has done her part in the making of a 
home and the rearing of her capable sons while Mr. Hinton was busy with- 
the duties of field and farm. 

Mr. Hinton is a Democrat. His first presidential vote was given to 
General Hancock. Both he and his wife have realized the need of good 
schools in their community and have done all they could to support such 
institutions. For fourteen years he served as director of the home school 
district. He was One of the building committee of the beautiful new 
church known as .the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church, which was 
erected' at a cost of $8,000 and when dedicated on May 13, 1917, was com- 
pletely out of debt. Mrs. Hinton is a member of the Ladies' Aid Society. 
Fraternally Mr. Hinton is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Fisher. 
Mr. and Mrs. Hinton are now in a position to enjoy life. Their sons are 
independent and can-ing out their own careers, and Park Lawn represents to 
Mr. and Mrs. Hinton not so much a business as a' home. For their diver- 
sion and the better enjoyment of their friends they have had a car in use 
for several years, formerly a Chalmers and now a Velie machine. 

HENRY CHERRY. A complete picture of rural efficiency and beauty is 
furnished in the Cherry homestead of Ogden Township. Its proprietor is 
Mr. Henry Cherry, who in his early years did not find life a round of 
pleasure or luxury, and has had to make his own way in the world by hard 
work and unceasing efforts. 

Mr. Cherry was born in Boone County, Indiana, and is the adopted son 
of William Cherry. That family were pioneers in Indiana and at an early 
day came to Illinois and settled on a farm in Ogden Township. Henry 
Cherry received his education in the old Brindle district school of Ogden 
Township. 

When he was twenty-seven years of age he married Emma R. Smith. 
She was born in Vigo County, near Terre Haute, Indiana, daughter of 
Marshall and Evelyn (Bogard) Smith. Her father was for many years a 
railroad engineer and also owned and operated a sawmill. Mrs. Cherry was 
only three years of age when her mother died. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cherry located on eighty acres of 
land in section 6 of Ogden Township. Mr. Cherry had worked industri- 
ously as a farm hand for a number of years, and from his careful savings 
was able to buy this first farm at $30 an acre. The land had no improve- 
ments, and their first home was a small two-room structure, but confident 
of the future and with a determination to better their lot they began in this 
humble environment with complete happiness and accord. The passing 
years brought them abundance of success, and they did much to improve 
and beautify their land, clearing it, planting trees, and erecting commodious 
buildings. Mr. Cherry is a natural mechanic and besides cultivating his 
fields has erected most of his buildings and has done the work of painting 
and decoration. While he began farming with very meager assets, he has 
kept increasing his property until his estate now comprises 205 acres. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cherry became the parents of three children, Mervyn, 
Nellie and Yelma, Realizing the advantage of education, Mr. and Mrs. 
Cherry sent their children to the Hickory Grove School, and all of them 
grew up as splendid auxiliaries in the home. The only son, Mervyn, mar- 
ried Grace LaHue, a native of Indiana. Mr. Cherry wisely decided that 
he would keep his son at home and erected a new dwelling for them on the 
farm. The son grew up as a practical farmer and has applied his knowl- 
edge to the successful management of the homestead. 

The daughters, Nellie and Velma, are still in the family circle, and 
Nellie is a very fine musician both by nature and by training. She is also 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 825 

an artist, and for ten years has been a very successful music teacher and 
has clone much to advance the cause of this art in Champaign County. Both 
the (laughters are accomplished musicians, and music has always meant a 
great deal in the Cherry home. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cherry are active members of the Prospect Christian 
Church, and by their means and influence have done much to advance the 
cause of this institution in the community. Mr. Cherry was a promoter of 
the University of Olivet, Illinois, and gave $1,000 toward its erection. 
Politically they are ardent supporters of the prohibition cause, and have 
never neglected an opportunity to advance the day when prohibition will 
be state wide, nation wide and world wide. Mr. Cherry's efforts have met 
with deserved success, and it should be mentioned also that through all the 
years he has had a good wife to stand side by side with him and share in 
these achievements. Mrs. Cherry when she began housekeeping had among 
other articles of furniture a modest little dresser made of a dry goods box 
with a calico curtain in front. She says that she took as much pride in 
this home made piece of furnishing as in any more substantial and costlier 
article which has since entered into her home. 

Many years ago Mr. and Mrs. Cherry planted a number of walnut trees 
on the north and west of their house, and these, to the number of about 
250, have since grown so as to constitute a beautiful grove that is one of the 
many attractive features of the Cherry farm. Mr. Cherry is a very suc- 
cessful stock farmer, has handled Holstein, Jersey and Guernsey cows of 
thoroughbred strain, has a few Shropshire sheep, and keeps an abundance 
of poultry. For a number of years he has been a very successful bee man. 
Mr. and Mrs. Cherry and their daughters see much of the country and of 
their friends by means of the fine five passenger automobile which is one 
of the evidences of family prosperity and of their willingness and readiness 
to enjoy life as they go along. 

JOSEPH C. JOHNSON. Hale and hearty, with firm step and unclouded 
mind, Joseph C. Johnson at the age of eighty years is one of Champaign 
County's oldest living native sons. It has been his privilege to witness with 
his own eyes and bear a not unimportant part in the development of this 
rich and prosperous section of Illinois from a period when it was wild 
prairie and even wilder swamps. Mr. Johnson is now enjoying the com- 
forts of a retired home in the town of St. Joseph. 

He was born in Urbana Township of Champaign County, December 25, 
Christmas Day, 1837. He was one of the six children, three sons and three 
daughters, of Amos and Sarah (Moss) Johnson, both of whom were natives 
of Ohio. The birth of Mr. Johnson indicates that they were among the 
earliest pioneers of Champaign County. When they came the land was all 
new and it was possible to shoot deer on the prairies, while around the lonely 
cabins of the early settlers the wolves howled every night and inspired fear 
in the children and frequently devastated the poultry and sheep yards of the 
farmers. 

Joseph C. Johnson attended school with other children of that neigh- 
borhood, the schoolhouse being built of logs with the curriculum as limited 
as the furnishings. Many of the people of that day in Champaign County 
lived in log buildings without floors. 

At the age of twenty-eight Joseph C. Johnson laid the foundation of his 
own home by his marriage to Susan Ann Cloyd. She was born in Indiana, 
a daughter of William and Hannah Cloyd. After their marriage Mr. and 
Mrs. Johnson settled in St. Joseph Township and began farming 011 a 
rented place. They had youth, enthusiasm and industry, and out of their 
careful earnings and savings they bought their first farm of eighty acres in 



826 HISTOEY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

section 16. This was school land and the price they paid was sixteen dollars 
an acre. There were no improvements, and it was necessary to convert the 
wild prairie into productive fields. In the course of time this land was 
producing crops, buildings arose from time to time with increased comfort 
and facilities, they planted fruit and shade trees, and to this day a fine 
grove of walnut trees stands as a monument to their early efforts at forest- 
ation. 

Two children were born to this happy couple, William A. and Henrietta. 
The children were given the advantages of the district schools in Stanton 
Township and enjoyed the happy and care-free life of childhood. When 
they were still young their beloved mother was called by death, and 
Mr. Johnson for some years had the responsibilities of the farm and the 
care and training of his children. Later he married Celia A. (Prugh) 
Harris. Mrs. Johnson was born in Ohio, daughter of Aquilla T. and 
Eebecca (Dickinson) Prugh. Her parents were also natives of Ohio. 

For a great many years Mr. Johnson continued to reside on his home- 
stead, which he had increased to 120 acres. In 1911 he decided to leave 
the farm, his children having married and started homes of their own, and 
since that date he has lived in St. Joseph with a comfortable home on 
Lincoln Street. 

His son, William Johnson, married Effie Radebogh. He is a successful 
farmer in Indiana, living five miles northeast of Winchester. His family 
of children consists of Mabel, Gladys, Cloyd, Leah, Willard and Euth. Just 
recently the sad death of Mr. Johnson's little granddaughter, Euth Elien 
Johnson, occurred at his home at St. Joseph, on August 23, 1917, when she 
was but two years, nine months and twenty-one days old. Her mother 
had come on a visit from Indiana, and the little child was taken sick and 
died here. The daughter, Henrietta Johnson, is the wife of George 
Phenicie. He is a farmer in Stanton Township, and they have children 
named Joseph Merle, Abner, Eoy, Harold and Chester. 

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are active members and liberal supporters of the 
Christian Church. In matters of politics he is a Democrat and has always 
taken an active interest in local affairs and the welfare of his community. 
He was elected school trustee, also road commissioner, and served the public 
faithfully and well for seven years, finally resigning office because of poor 
health. 

Mr. Johnson well remembers the time when Urbana consisted of a 
hamlet of a few houses, while not a single building stood on the present 
site of Champaign. He recalls the site of the present city buildings of 
Champaign as a pond or swamp with five or six feet of water even in dry 
weather. A great deal of credit is due a man like Mr. Johnson, since he 
was one of the individuals who performed that great aggregate undertaking 
of making Champaign County one of the garden spots of the world. As a. 
boy in his excursions about the country he frequently saw the fiats covered 
with wild ducks and geese, and as they rose from the water the numbers 
were so great that in their flight they darkened the sun. Much of this 
swamp land now so productive and valuable could have been bought in 
Mr. Johnson's time for twelve and a half cents an acre. 

LEWIS W. MARTIN. A district such as Champaign County, noted for 
its fine live stock, has special need for the services of a competent and 
trained veterinarian. In many ways the leader in this profession is 
Dr. Lewis W. Martin, who has had about twenty-seven years of active prac- 
tice in and around Fisher. His skill is widely recognized, and he has fre- 
quently been called beyond the boundaries of the county to render 
professional service on some of the large stock farms of central Illinois, and 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 827 

has been consulted in much of the organized work and effort for the safe- 
guarding of the health of live stock. 

Doctor Martin was born in Woodford County, Illinois, on January 20, 
1858. He was the oldest child and only son of James T. and Jane (Arrow-- 
smith) Martin. He has two sisters. Minnie, who was educated in the 
common schools and is a member of the Methodist Church, is the wife of 
Edward Ballinger, an agriculturist at Beebe, Arkansas. They are the 
parents of five children. Anna H., who lives at Pontiac, Illinois, is the 
widow of Jefferson Shrout, who was formerly an engineer, but at the time 
of his death was engaged in farming. Mrs. Shrout has five children. 

James T. Martin was born in Ohio in 1830 and died in November, 1916. 
In earlier years he was a carpenter and contractor, but finally took up 
farming. He grew to manhood in his native State, acquired a good edu- 
cation and was well qualified for teaching, which he followed in Illinois, 
chiefly in Woodford County. At one time he owned about eighty acres 
of land in Woodford County, but sold that and removed to Livingston 
County, Illinois, where he acquired a place of 175 acres, which he still 
owned at the time of his death. He began voting as a Whig and gravitated 
naturally into the Eepublican party. At one time he served as township 
collector. Early in the Civil War he enlisted in Company F of the 
Seventy-seventh Illinois Infantry and was in active and continuous service 
for four years, participating in the grand review at Washington at the 
close of the war, and soon afterward receiving his honorable discharge, 
making a record of which his descendants will always be proud. Though 
he was exposed to shot and shell at Gettysburg, Bull Eun and many other 
battles, he was never wounded nor taken prisoner. For years he was an 
active member of the Grand Army of the Eepublic and he and his wife 
were Methodists. His wife, Miss Arrowsmith, was born in old England 
about 1835, and came when a small girl with her parents to Illinois. In 
that State she attended the common schools. Though now eighty-two, she 
is still bright and active, has an excellent memory and is devoted to her 
home and church. 

Doctor Martin attended common schools and through inclination and 
early experience was led into the business and profession which he has fol- 
lowed with so much success at Fisher for the past twenty-seven years. 
Doctor Martin has a splendid library devoted to veterinary science, medi- 
cine and surgery, and keeps a full supply of the best drugs and all the 
implements and appliances needed in his work. There is not a farmer 
or stockman in a radius of twenty miles around Fisher who does not know 
the capable attainments of Doctor Martin and most of them have employed 
his services at one time or other. He has a personal acquaintance with 
all the prominent horsemen and farmers in this part of Illinois and his 
practice extends into Ford and McLean counties. Like other successful 
professional men, he has found the automobile a great aid to his work and 
he drives a fine Chevrolet. 

In 1878 Doctor Martin married Miss Susan Jane Cline. They are the 
parents of three children, one son and two daughters. George E., who was 
educated in the Fisher schools, is a successful young man in his profession 
as an electrician at Champaign. He is a Eepublican and a member of 
the Modern Woodmen of America. The maiden name of his wife was 
Carrie Compton, and their three children are named Eussell, Cloyd and 
Loas. Grace E., the older daughter, was educated in the common schools 
and is now the wife of Charles Farmer, foreman of a general store at 
Bakersfield, California. Mr. and Mrs. Farmer have a small son. Nora 
Lucile, the youngest, is the wife of Walter Einehart, an agriculturist of 
East Bend Township, near Fisher. These children have all received good 
home advantages and the practical training afforded by the local schools. 



828 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mrs. Martin was born in Livingston County, Illinois, was educated in 
the common schools and is an active member of the Christian Church. 
Doctor Martin is a Eepublican voter, and is affiliated with the Knights of 
Pythias at Fisher and was appointed as a delegate to the Grand Lodge of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has actively supported various 
churches and is a liberal contributor to the erection of the present beautiful 
Christian Church at Fisher. Besides their residence at Fisher, Doctor and 
Mrs. Martin have property in Chicago. They have made the interests of 
their community their own interests, and are people of the highest standing 
in this part of Champaign County. 

ELIAS FBEEMAN. For sixty years a resident of Champaign County, 
Elias Freeman is one of the citizens whose name and a brief record of whose 
career should be permanently recorded. He represents a family which had 
its start in the early development of the county, and his own life of sub- 
stantial industry brought a generous reward in material circumstances and 
civic honor, and he is now properly enjoying the fruits of well directed toil 
in a comfortable home at the village of Ogden. 

Mr. Freeman was born in what is now Ogden Township of Champaign 
County, June 22, 1857, a son of Edmond and Jemimah (Rush) Freeman. 
His parents, natives of Ohio, came to Illinois at an early day. James 
Freeman, the grandfather of Elias, came to this state when Edmond was 
two years of age. At that time there was not a house between Salt Fork 
and Burr Oak. It was all one stretch of raw prairie. The Freeman family 
settled at Salt Fork and some of the good land in that section was developed 
through their energies and purposeful activities. Edmond Freeman had a 
family of eleven children, Elias being the third in age. 

The latter attended the local district schools with his brothers and sis- 
ters, grew up as a farmer on the home farm, and at the age of twenty-five, 
in 1883, married Miss Jennie Fisher. Mrs. Freeman was born in Randolph 
County, Indiana, daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Fisher, being the 
second in order of age among their seven children. When she was a small 
girl her parents removed to Vermilion County, Illinois, and she was edu- 
cated in the district schools there. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Freeman located on 150 acres 
belonging to his father four miles northwest of the town of Ogden. He 
capably managed this place for seven years, and while there he laid the 
foundation of his permanent prosperity. On leaving his father's land he 
moved to a farm of Mrs. Freeman's father south of Ogden, and here he 
continued his agricultural operations for ten years. At the end of that 
time he bought a farm of his own of 165 acres south of the village of Ogden 
and that he made his permanent home. The land had few improvements 
when he bought it, but it is now a splendid farm, with good buildings, with 
plenty of fruit and shade trees, and its value as a farm and a residence is 
greatly enhanced by its position on the interurban railway. 

Mr. and Mrs. Freeman had two children, one son and one daughter, 
E. E. Freeman and Ella May. The son is proprietor of a large business as 
a hardware and furniture merchant at Fithian, Illinois. He married Ilattie 
Yeoman and has a son, Carl Richard. The daughter, Ella May Freeman, is 
the wife of Frank Fenders, and they live next door to her parents in Ogden. 
Mr. Fenders is a grain buyer for the Zorn Grain Company. They also have 
one child, Ralph Freeman Fenders. Mr. and Mrs. Freeman take a great 
deal of pride and joy in their bright little grandson. 

In 1910 Mr. and Mrs. Freeman left their farm and removing to Ogden 
bought a pleasant and attractive home, which in subsequent years they have 
done much to improve by remodeling and other changes. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 829 

Politically Mr. Freeman is an active Republican. He has served his 
community and his fellow citizens as road commissioner, school director, 
school trustee, and member of the highway commission. He and his good 
wife have found all that reasonable ambition could desire, sufficient of this 
world's goods for all their needs, the esteem and kindness of friends and 
neighbors, and have themselves lived so as to deserve all that their industry 
and good character have won. 

JULIUS A. HEINZ, while one of the younger men of Champaign County, 
has acquired many sucessful interests since coming to Pesotum and is a 
real leader in the life and affairs of that town. 

Mr. Heinz was born in Kickapoo Township of Peoria County, Illinois, 
September 29, 1880. His parents Frank and Mary (Heitter) Heinz, 
were also natives of the same county. His paternal grandfather was a 
native of Germany, while the maternal ancestry came from Prance. 
Frank Heinz followed farming during his active career and he and his 
wife are now living retired in Peoria. They were the parents of these 
children : Ida and William, both deceased ; Elizabeth, wife of Frank Biene- 
mann, of Peoria ; Mary, deceased ; Julius A. ; a daughter that died in 
infancy; Emil, of Peoria; Sylvester, deceased; Etta and Clarence, twins, the 
latter now deceased, while Etta is the wife of Henry Speck, Jr., of Peoria. 

Julius A. Heinz attended the parochial schools in Peoria County until 
he was sixteen years of age. After that he lived on his father's farm and 
worked there until the age of twenty-two. Then, fifteen years ago, he 
arrived at Pesotum and began the active business career which has brought 
him such generous rewards. For two weeks he worked in an implement 
business and then bought out Mr. Kleiss and with his cousin, L. T. 
Heinz, continued the trade, handling implements, buggies, lumber, hard- 
ware and other supplies. In 1904 an undertaking department was added 
and the cousins remained in partnership until 1909, when the business was 
reorganized and divided. 

At that time Mr. Heinz took the undertaking line and also the real 
estate and insurance department. He still continues the undertaking 
business, and has a splendid equipment for a small town, including a 
motor hearse. He is also senior partner in the firm of Heinz & Creamer 
at Tolono, and is head of the Heinz-Riemke agency of automobiles, at 
Pesotum. They make a specialty, as sales agents of the Haynes and Reo 
cars. 

In 1913 Mr. Heinz accepted the position of cashier of the Bank of 
Pesotum and now gives much of his time to the administration of the 
bank's business and is one of its directors. 

His name is also associated with the public affairs of Pesotum. He 
was the first village treasurer and was tax collector one year. Politically 
he is a Democrat, is a member of the Catholic Church, and is affiliated 
with Champaign Lodge of Elks, has taken the fourth degree in the Knights 
of Columbus and belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. November 
22, 1916, Mr. Heinz married Kathryn Kerwin, a native of Marion County, 
Illinois. 

ABRAHAM PAULUS. It is a distinction such as pertains to few living 
Champaign County residents that Mr. Paulus enjoys by reason of his con- 
tinuous residence in the county since 1856. That was an early year in the 
pioneer history of this county and was a notable one in national affairs, 
since it saw the first entrance of the Republican party into national politics. 
Mr. Paulus has witnessed a remarkable development going on under his 
eyes during the past sixty years, and he and his good wife have borne their 

220 



830 HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

shares of labor and responsibilities in this community. Champaign County 
in 1856 was a broad stretch of prairie land, open only here and there by 
the industry of the early settlers. 

Mr. Paulus was born in Darke County, Ohio, September 9, 1843. He 
was one of a family of thirteen children, four sons and nine daughters, 
whose parents were Daniel and Louisiana (Treon) Paulus. Five of this 
large family are still living. Lydia, the oldest, resides in Indianapolis and 
is the widow of Jacob Ware. Lucy Ann lives at Mansfield, Illinois, the 
widow of John Hollihand. Sarah, a resident of Billings, Montana, is the 
widow of Levi Brooks. The next in the family is Abraham Paulus. 
Jonathan Francis, who served in an Illinois regiment in the Union army 
during the Civil War and was granted an honorable discharge, is now living 
at Marion, Indiana. 

Daniel Paulus, father of this large family, was born in Maryland, Jan- 
uary 12, 1807. He lived a long and useful life and passed away in 1902 
in Indiana, at the age of ninety-five. When he was one year old his 
parents removed to Ohio, crossing over the mountain barriers and journey- 
ing westward in true pioneer style. They lived for some years in Preble 
County. Grandfather Paulus had the offer of ten acres of land gratis pro- 
vided he would locate in Cincinnati, then a raw and unpromising com- 
munity. This offer was given him because he was a blacksmith and men 
of that trade were sorely needed in Cincinnati. However, he chose Preble 
County instead. Daniel Pauhis was a self-educated man and made farming 
his chief vocation. He owned 120 acres of land in Darke County in west- 
ern Ohio. In 1856 he gave up his land there and came farther west into 
Champaign County and bought 160 acres in Newcomb Township. For this 
land he paid $25 an acre. At that price it had more improvements than 
many other of the newer farms of the township. It was located on the 
east side of Newcomb Township. Later Daniel Paulus sold this land and 
returned to Ohio about 1864, and remained in that State until the death 
of his wife. He was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Lutheran 
Church. 

His good wife was born in Pennsylvania, February 9, 1810, and died 
December 1, 1877. She was a young woman when her parents removed to 
Ohio. Both she and her husband were interred in the Union City Ceme- 
tery in Ohio, where a monument marks their last resting place. 

Mr. Abraham Paulus was only thirteen years of age when his parents 
came to Champaign County. While living in western Ohio he attended a 
log schoolhouse. Its seats were made of slabs held up from the floor by 
wooden pins, and he had all the experiences of a pioneer school boy, 
including the writing of a copy set by the master and with the old goose- 
quill pen, which was fashioned with a real "pen knife" by the schoolmaster 
himself. Mr. Paulus more than most people in Champaign County is 
able to appreciate the vast contrast between modern schools, their fine 
equipment and furniture and their course of instruction, and the temples 
of learning where he gained his first instruction. After getting his educa- 
tion Mr. Paulus took up farming as a practical pursuit and he was not yet 
twenty-one years of age when he married and set up housekeeping for 
himself. His marriage occurred in Champaign County, April 7, 1864. 
Miss Mary Jane Lane was the bride. They have been married now over 
half a century. Ten children have been born into their home, six sons 
and four daughters. Eight are still living. William was educated in the 
common schools, has been a Democrat in politics, and was formerly engaged 
in agricultural vocations, but is now a resident of Champaign City and 
pursuing his favorite work as a mechanic. Oliver is a successful agricul- 
turist in East Bend Township. He married Miss Alice Eobinett, and 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGX COUXTY 831 

they have a little daughter, Ruby. Oliver is a Democrat and a member 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife are Chris- 
tian Scientists. Cora lives in Pontiac, Illinois, the widow of Morris 
Haines. She has two children, Orville and Verla. She and her daughter 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Louisiana married 
William Sheppard, a resident of Champaign. Mr. Sheppard is a Demo- 
crat. They have three children, Vern, Ray and Mary. Clara is the wife 
of Lee Mulvane, who lives near Saunemin, Illinois, where he is engaged 
in farming. Mrs. Mulvane is a member of the Methodist Church. Joseph 
is an agriculturist at Breckenridge, Michigan. He married Miss Ida Tay- 
lor, and they have a young son, Richard. They belong to the Methodist 
Church. Stella was educated in the common schools and married Walter 
Fielder. Mr. Fielder died in April, 1917. He left one son, Virgil, who 
was educated in the common schools and is now taking the second year of 
work in the Fisher High School and is one of the brightest students in his 
class. Mrs. Fielder now lives with her parents. She is a member of the 
Methodist Protestant Church. Frank, living near Proctor, Illinois, on a 
farm, married Miss Emma Adams, and they have three children, Evelyn, 
Harriet and Wilbur. They are members of the Lutheran Church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Paulus also reared in their home their grandson Jesse, 
educating him in the common schools, and he is now a practical farmer. 
He married Miss Marie Adams and they have two small daughters, Helen 
and Bernice, who afford the greatest delight to their great-grandparents, 
Mr. and Mrs. Paulus. 

Mrs. Paulus was born in Clinton County, Indiana, December 1, 1845, 
a daughter of William and Catherine (Blacker) Lane. She was one of 
six children, three sons and three daughters. She is the oldest of the 
three now living. Her sister Cynthia is the wife of Abram Ater, a resident 
of Urbana. Her brother John was formerly in the sales and livery busi- 
ness and is now living at San Diego, California, and is married. 

Mrs. Paulus' father was born in Ohio and when young moved to 
Indiana and was married in that State. In 1857 he came to Champaign 
County and spent the rest of his life here. He was a Republican and a 
member of the Methodist Church. Mother Lane was also a native of 
Ohio, but grew up in Indiana. Mrs. Paulus' parents are both now deceased, 
and they were laid to rest in the City Cemetery at Mahomet, Illinois, 
where appropriate stones mark their last resting place. Mrs. Paulus was 
educated in the common schools. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Paulus started out to make their own 
destiny in the world without special help from anyone and relying almost 
entirely upon their own efforts and industry, inspired by their ambition. 
For a number of years they were farm renters. Their first purchase was 
eighty acres, and later they bought 160 acres in Xewcomb Township. Half 
of this has since been sold, and they retain the rest of it as their attractive 
country home. Mr. and Mrs. Paulus began heavily in debt. They were 
able to make their first payment on their land only $100. By industry 
and rigid economy they pulled out of debt and at the present time they 
owe no one a dollar and have in addition to their farm a good town home 
in Fisher. They have enjoyed the highest esteem of their community 
throughout their residence in this county. 

Mr.. Paulus is a Democrat. He has passed all the chairs in Fisher 
Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife are 
active in the Methodist Protestant Church of Xewcomb Township. He 
has been one of the trustees since the church was built and for years 
was superintendent of its Sunday school. He is also president of 
the Township Sunday School Convention, and year in and year out has 



832 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

worked earnestly for the upbuilding of church. Sunday school and every 
worthy movement in the community. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Paulus 
is known as the Maple Lawn Farm. It is the abode of hospitality, and 
their many friends find a hospitable welcome within its bounds. In 1910 
Mr. and Mrs. Paulus made a delightful tour of the far West, including 
Montana, San Diego and Portland, Oregon. It was a journey that brought 
them to some of the greatest natural wonders of America, and they returned 
home all the better satisfied with Champaign County and with the place 
which their own earnest efforts had given them to own and to possess in 
this rich garden spot of the world. 

JACOB SWICK. A resident of Champaign County during a period of 
sixty-five years and still interested in the pursuit of agriculture here, Jacob 
Swick is one of the best known among the citizens of Broadlands and the 
vicinity. During his long career it has been his fortune to have gained 
many of the rewards of industry and integrity, and in addition to material 
remuneration to have attained a position of substantial prominence in his 
community and a place in the respect and confidence of those among whom 
his long life has been spent. 

Mr. Swick was born in Germany, June 27, 1837, a son of Jacob and 
Christine (Oberly) Swick, both born in that country. The family came to 
the United States in 1852, first settling in Pennsylvania, from which state 
they moved to Ohio, and there the parents passed the remaining years of 
their lives engaged in farming. They were honest, industrious, God-fearing 
people who reared their ohildren to lives of usefulness and honor and gave 
them all the advantages that they could afford. The children were as fol- 
lows : Jacob, of this notice ; Christina, who is the wife of John Vedder and 
a resident of Urbana; Christopher, who also resides at that place; and 
Mary, the wife of Joseph Marsh, of North Dakota. 

Jacob Swick was about fifteen years of age when he accompanied his 
parents to the United States, and here in the public schools of Pennsylvania 
and Ohio completed the education which he had started in Germany. When 
he left the parental roof to engage in life's activities on his own account 
he went to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he worked on a farm for five years, 
after which the Civil War came on and he enlisted in Company F, First 
Ohio Heavy Artillery, with which he served for two and one-half years. He 
had an excellent record as a soldier, and upon receiving his honorable dis- 
charge returned to Ohio, but soon located in Morgan County, where he 
worked on a farm for five years, after which he came to Champaign County 
and took up his residence in Raymond Township, where he engaged in oper- 
ations on a farm of eighty acres. Later he bought forty acres more, and to 
this added an additional tract of like size, and finally purchased 240 acres 
in Ayers Township, where his subsequent activities were carried on. 
Mr. Swick won success by reason of his constant industry, his fidelity to 
engagements and the honorable manner in which he carried on his transac- 
tions, and the record of his business life presents a clean and unblemished 
page. 

Mr. Swick was married first to Katherine Kirchner, who died in Cham- 
paign County, leaving one child, who died in infancy. For his second wife 
Mr. Swick married Elizabeth Thady, and they became the parents of four 
children : Lillian May, Charles E., Ella Irene and Harry C. Mr.- Swick 
is a Republican, but not a politician, although active in good civic move- 
ments in the community. His religious faith is that of the United Brethren 
Church. Since his practical retirement from active agricultural affairs 
Mr. Swick has resided at Broadlands, where he has a comfortable, modern 
home. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 833 , 

CHARLES FAIRFIELD. One of the most valuable and best cultivated 
agricultural estates in northern Champaign County is that owned by 
Charles Fairfield, a modern farm lying in Brown Township, not far from 
Fisher. For a number of years devoted to general farming, it has recently 
taken on the added department of blooded stock raising, and under the 
progressive and able management of its owner is developing into a farm 
that is extending its reputation beyond the limits of its immediate com- 
munity. Mr. Fairfield is known in Brown Township as one of the agri- 
culturists who has not allowed his extensive personal interests to blind 
him to the needs of the locality in which he lives. He has helped his 
community to grow and has supported good movements. His title as a 
representative citizen has been secured not only by individual gaining of 
material things, but by co-operation with other public-spirited men in 
forwarding Champaign County's general welfare. 

Charles Fairfield was born in Livingston County, Illinois, January 20, 
1866, and is the eldest of a family of four -sons and two daughters born to 
John W. and Priscilla (Shirery) Fairfield. All are living and all are 
residents of Illinois with the exception of one daughter, who lives in Iowa. 
John W. Fairfield was born in Ohio in 1838, was married in his native 
State, and in 1865 came to Illinois, settling in Livingston County. He 
followed agricultural pursuits there until 1871, when he moved to Mahomet 
Township, Champaign County, where he rounded out his career, his death 
occurring in 1879. Originally an old line Whig, with the birth of the 
Republican party he joined that organization and supported its interests 
thereafter loyally. Fraternally he was affiliated with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, and he and Mrs. Fairfield were faithful members 
of the Christian Church. When he first came to Champaign County the 
church services were held in the Allison schoolhouse, situated two miles 
west of Fisher. Mr. Fairfield was laid to rest in the Naylor Cemetery. 
Mrs. Fairfield was born in 1840, also in Ohio, and still survives. 

Charles Fairfield was about six years of age when he was brought by 
his parents to Champaign County, and here his education was secured in 
the public schools. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, and when he 
was twenty-six years of age, having less than $500 capital at the time, 
felt enough confidence in his own abilities to embark upon an independent 
career. At that time, August 24, 1892, he was united in marriage with 
Miss Minnie Schenk. To them three children have been born. Roy J., 
educated in the public schools and at Brown's Business College, is one 
of the progressive and energetic young farmers of Champaign County, 
residing in Brown Township. He married Miss Augusta Heyer, a grad- 
uate of the Fisher High School. Floyd A. was educated in the public 
schools, and is training himself to become a first-class farmer and stock- 
man. Emmet C. is attending the public schools. The children belong to 
the Christian Church. 

Mrs. Fairfield was born in Champaign County, Illinois, and was 
reared on the farm on which she now resides, her education being secured 
in the public schools and the high school. For two years prior to her 
marriage she taught in the county schools. Her birth date was March 23, 
1873, and she is a daughter of Anthony and Mary (Frichauf) Schenk, 
being one of a family of five sons and nine daughters, of whom seven 
children are living, although besides herself there is only one living in 
Champaign County, this being her sister Ella, who is the wife of J. A. 
Fairfield, a contractor and builder of Fisher. Anthony Schenk was born 
near the Rhine River in Prussia, October 28, 1832, and as a youth dis- 
played remarkable talents in mathematics, being a teacher when he was 
only twelve years of age. Subsequently he learned the trade of molder, 



834 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

but when he was sixteen years of age came with his parents to the United 
States, via Havre, France, the sailing vessel on which they made the trip 
taking eight weeks for the passage. For a short time the family resided 
near Albany, New York, then going to St. Louis, Missouri, where they 
lived for five years. Mr. Schenk and his brother John then purchased 
400 acres of land in Champaign County, a part of which is now included 
in the home farm of Mr. and Mrs. Fairfield. Mr. Schenk, who died in 
.1900, became not only one of the substantial farmers of his community, 
but also stood high in the esteem of his fellow citizens, who chose him as 
township treasurer for fourteen years and as supervisor of Brown Town- 
ship two terms. Although a Democrat, he cast his vote for Benjamin 
Harrison for president. Always a religious man and a faithful member 
of the Christian faith, he assisted in the erection of three churches in his 
locality, and now lies at rest in Mount Hope Cemetery, c where the first 
monument placed in that burial place marks the grave of one of his 
brothers. Mrs. Schenk was born near the city of Berlin, Germany, March 
16, 1841, and was eight years of age when brought to the United States 
by her parents in a sailing vessel which took seven weeks to cross the. 
Atlantic Ocean. She was educated in German and English, has always 
been a devout member of the Christian Church, and now makes her home 
with Mr. and Mrs. Fairfield, being one of the best and most affectionately 
known ladies of the community. 

When they started married life Mr. and Mrs. Fairfield were renters. 
They were energetic and industrious, worked hard to make themselves a 
home, and eventually came into possession of enough land to give them a 
start. From that time to the present they have added to their holdings 
and to their 'comforts, and now are in possession of 360 acres of finely 
cultivated and productive land, on which are located substantial buildings 
and all modern improvements. Their large and commodious residence 
and three fine barns have been erected and remodeled by them, and other 
indications of good management and prosperity abound. Mr. Fairfield has 
just started in to raise blooded Percheron horses and Shorthorn Durham 
cattle, and has already made a success of his venture. In addition to the 
360 acres included in his own-farm, he is also operating 160 acres, and is 
making each acre of land pay in full for the labor expended upon it. 

A Republican in politics, Mr. Fairfield cast his first vote for Benjamin 
Harrison for president. He has been selected as a delegate to the county 
conventions, and the confidence in which he is held by his fellow townsmen 
is shown in the fact that he has been township treasurer of schools for 
seventeen years, school director for seven years and highway commissioner 
for twenty years. In addition to bein'g deacon and trustee of the First 
Christian Church, he is chairman of the building committee in charge of the 
fine new church which will be completed during the autumn of 1917, at a 
cost of from $15,000 to $20,000. Throughout his career he has allowed 
his name to be connected only with honorable dealings, and as a result 
his record as business man, agriculturist and official is free from any 
manner of blemish. 

L. P. GBIMES. Many of the best homes in Champaign County have been 
won as a result of long and toilsome process, involving the clearing of the 
land, the draining of the swamps, the construction of ditches and fences, 
and every improvement has meant an expenditure of labor and care that 
only the very successful or those who have been through the experience can 
appreciate. 

Among the men who have had- that experience and have witnessed the 
evolution of Champaign County during the last forty years is Mr. L. P. 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 835 

Grimes of St. Joseph Township. Mr. Grimes was born in Vermilion 
County, Illinois, August 12, 1852, a son of John and Hannah (Snyder) 
Grimes. His parents were also natives of Illinois. Grandfather Grimes 
came from Ohio and in the early days settled four miles north of Danville, 
when Danville was only a trading post. For a number of years there were 
hardly any families in that neighborhood except the Grimeses and their rel- 
atives. It is said that for two miles in every direction nearly every house 
contained a Grimes. John and Hannah Grimes had nine children, four 
sons and five daughters. These children were all educated in the district 
schools. In 1865 John Grimes took his family to Kansas and spent the 
rest of his days there. 

In 1875, at the age of twenty-three, L. P. Grimes returned from Kansas 
to Illinois, for the purpose of visiting, and he found so many interests to 
claim his time and attention that the visit has been continued indefinitely to 
the present time. At the age of twenty-nine he married Miss Annie E. 
Eidinger. She was born in St. Joseph Township, daughter of Milburn and 
Margaret (Moore) Eidinger. The Eidinger family also came from Ohio, 
and Mrs. Grimes was third in a family of ten children. She was well 
educated in the local district school. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Grimes rented twenty-nine acres 
adjoining the Eidinger homestead. The outlook was not very encouraging. 
They had a small house, a log barn and a few rods of rail fence. In front 
of the house and shutting off the view of the road were trees and brush, 
while about the farm were sloughs in which the water was so deep in places 
that it came up to a horse's side. In spite of this fact the young people 
possessed the energy and determination to make their work count, and at 
the end of two years they had saved enough to make the first payment upon 
their land. It was a happy day in their lives when they secured a deed to 
this small tract, but their industry did not stop there and they have gone 
ahead with their work and improvements until they now have eighty acres 
of good farm land, well drained and cultivated, improved with fruit and 
shade trees, a commodious house, barns, and altogether constituting one of 
the valuable farms of Champaign County. 

Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Grimes, one of whom died in 
infancy. The other is A. M. Grimes, who was educated in the local district 
school and finished in the St. Joseph High School, and he is now a careful 
and successful farmer on a place just across the road from his father's farm. 
A. M. Grimes married Cora Parks, and they have a bright young son, 
Claude L., who was born January 5, 1894. This boy has proved his ability 
in different ways, is an expert in handling a horse and has qualified as a 
chauffeur, being able to handle an automobile with skill and the expertness 
of a veteran. 

Mr. L. P. Grimes has made his success as a grain and stock farmer. 
He now raises chiefly the Eed Duroc hogs and has about seventy-five full 
blood animals, besides Jersey cows. He separates the cream on his farm 
and ships it to market. 

Mr. and Mrs. Grimes are active members of the Christian Church at 
St. Joseph and worship in the beautiful brown stone and brick edifice that 
is one of the most attractive religious centers of the county. In politics 
Mr. Grimes is first, last and always a Eepublican, and fraternally is affiliated 
with the Eoyal Americans. His fellow citizens have shown their confidence 
in his ability and public spirit and have elected him to the office of road 
commissioner. Thus Mr. and Mrs. Grimes have attained the fullness of 
success out of their humble early efforts, and the credit for what they have 
accomplished and the influences that have emanated from their characters 
are due to them equally, since Mrs. Grimes has been a factor in the making 
of the home and has always stood beside her husband in counsel and advice. 



836 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

JOHN F. TROTTER. In early days the superiority of soil and climate 
attracted to Champaign County as permanent settlers many eastern thought- 
ful and observing pioneer home-seekers, and one of the families firmly 
established here bore the name of Trotter, a name that has been an hon- 
ored one in the county ever since. A worthy representative is found in 
John Franklin Trotter, one of Newcomb Township's most respected citi- 
zens. He was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, April 7, 1852. His 
parents were Hiram and Lydia A. (Alamang) Trotter. To them were 
born ten children and five of these survive, John Franklin, the fifth in 
order of birth, being the only son living. His four sisters are : Elizabeth, 
who is the widow of J. B. Lester and resides at Fisher, Illinois; Jennie, 
who is the widow of David Inskeep, resides at Cedar Eapids, Iowa; Bar- 
bara, who is the wife of George Teats of White Heath, .Illinois ; and Jane, 
who is the widow of Oscar Mullvain, lives at Thomasboro, Illinois. 

Hiram Trotter, father of the above family, was born near Wheeling, 
West Virginia, and there grew to manhood and engaged in farming. 
After the death of his first wife he married Lydia E. AJamang and she 
it was who accompanied him first to Indiana and later to Illinois and 
died here in 1880. After reaching Indiana Hiram Trotter rented eighty 
acres of land and operated it for six years. The rent was high and 
Mr. Trotter often remarked that the money spent in rent during that 
time would have purchased a good farm in another section. Finally he 
decided to move with his family into an adjacent State and locate in 
Champaign County, of which he had had many favorable reports. Once 
more the prairie schooner was brought into use and in 1856 the family 
was comfortably settled in a log cabin standing on a tract of eighty acres 
in Newcomb Township. He had borrowed the money to purchase this 
first land, but through his industry it was soon paid for and he continued 
to add to his holdings until he owned 240 acres, all in the same township. 
Pioneer conditions prevailed when the Trotters came first to Newcomb 
Township and John Franklin remembers when he could count as many as 
fifteen deer in a drove passing the little cabin. Hiram. Trotter was a 
man far beyond the ordinary in many ways. He was much more pro- 
gressive than many of his neighbors and many improvements both in 
farming methods and in public matters were brought about through his 
influence. He was a JefEersonian Democrat and at one time served as 
road commissioner, that being before the founding of the present flourish- 
ing towns of Fisher, Dewey, Foosland and Mahomet. He was one of the 
original members of the first church built in this section, which was named 
the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church, and in his home and in the 
schoolhouse near by the first church meetings were held. He served in 
church offices during the rest of his life. The death of this fine old 
pioneer occurred in 1900 and a beautiful memorial stone in Shiloh Ceme- 
tery marks the last resting place of Mr. Trotter and wife. 

John Franklin Trotter has been a resident of Newcomb Township 
almost his entire life. He attended the country schools and for a short 
time was a pupil in the Mahomet High School, and the public schools have 
always claimed his interest. He has always engaged in farming, renting 
land in Newcomb Township for the first two years after his marriage and 
then buying eighty acres. Later he purchased 160 acres near .Rising 
City, Nebraska, but remained on that place but one year, returning then 
to Illinois because the western climate had a bad effect on his wife's 
health. He now has seventy-one acres all in one tract, located at Shiloh 
Center, in the middle of the township. At one time the house he occupies 
was a postoffice. 

Mr. Trotter married January 20, 1876, Miss Eliza Jane Funston, and 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 837 

they have had four children, as follows: Ira, who is a practical and suc- 
cessful farmer in Newcomb Township, married Emma Eicks and they have 
five children, Edna, Roy, Elsie, Wayne and Lyle; Maude is the wife of 
Hartley M. Suttle, who owns a fine farm of 160 acres in this township, 
and they have five children, Oliver, Archie, Nellie, Mary and Lola; Grace 
is the wife of Herbert L. Hinton, a railroad brakeman, and they live in 
Chicago; and Daisy, who resides with her parents. She is highly edu- 
cated, having had advantages in the State Normal University and taught 
school for three years in Champaign County. She is a member of the 
Domestic Science Club at Mahomet, Illinois. She is one of the active 
and useful members of Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church and under her 
management as Sunday school superintendent the school is in a highly 
prosperous condition, interest being stimulated and maintained and much 
practical good accomplished. Miss Trotter spent a part of the summer of 
1905 at Denver, Colorado. She is a lady of engaging personality and is a 
welcome visitor everywhere. 

Mrs. Trotter was born in Piatt County, Illinois, December 7, 1854. 
She completed her education in the Mahomet High School and taught 
school for three terms in Newcomb Township and now teaches a class in 
Sunday school. Extended mention of her family appears in this work in 
the sketch of her sister, Mrs. Nancy Downs, who is a highly esteemed resi- 
dent of Newcomb Township. Both Mr. and Mrs. Trotter are willing 
workers in the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church, are liberal contributors 
to its various benevolent movements and by precept and example show the 
sincerity of their Christian belief. 

Mr. Trotter has not bound himself to any political party, like many 
other intelligent men preferring to stand by the principles he believes to 
be right and give support to such candidates as best represent them, irre- 
spective of party affiliation. He has been active and useful in township 
matters as a man of fine judgment and unblemished integrity and has 
served in responsible offices, having been tax collector, town clerk and for 
six years was a justice of the peace. Perhaps there is no more hospitable 
home in Newcomb Township than the Trotters, and their many friends are 
always sure of a hearty and sincere welcome. 

WILLIAM MORRISON. Along the Interurban as it passes through Ogden 
Township are found some beautiful farms, all of them representing the 
toil, self-sacrifice and industry of either their owners or of those worthy 
people who first claimed the land from the wilderness. One of these homes 
that stands for a most estimable personal career is that of William Morrison 
in section 8 of Ogden Township. 

Mr. Morrison was born in New York City in 1851. When he was ten 
years of age he was left an orphan by the death of his parents, and some- 
what later a man named George H. Allen became interested in him and 
brought him out to Illinois, and he soon found a home in the family of 
Eleazar Freeman, with whom he was a bound boy and with whom he 
remained twelve years. He had very limited opportunities to obtain an 
education, never more than three months a year. He had to work early 
and late, herding and feeding cattle, plowing in the fields, and only now and 
then came a few weeks when he could attend school. 

Thus as a boy he became inured to and disciplined in hard work, and 
he found it no special hardship when he went to earning his own way as a 
farm hand and worked in the fields from four o'clock in the morning until 
nine o'clock at night. His industry and good character commended him to 
the attention of Miss Callie Swearingen, and on January 24, 1878, they 
were married. She was a native of St. Joseph Township, a daughter of 



838 HISTOKY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Thomas and Elizabeth Swearingen. Their married life was brief, since 
Mrs. Morrison passed away July 11, 1880. They had lived on the Swearin- 
gen farm in the meantime. Subsequently Mr. Morrison married Lizetta 
Hixenbaugh. She was born in Virginia, daughter of Morgan and Sarah 
A. Hixenbaugh. 

In the meantime Mr. Morrison had worked steadily with the end in 
view that some day he would become proprietor of a farm of his own. This 
eventful day arrived in 1885, when he contracted for the purchase of ninety- 
eight and a half acres in section 8 of Ogden Township. The land had 
few improvements and was of limited value as compared with its value 
today. Even at that Mr. Morrison had to go in debt to buy it, and some 
years passed before he had it free from incumbrance. In the meantime he 
drained the land, cut out trees, built a commodious home, and thus his 
personal efforts and management are responsible for this attractive bit of 
landscape that may be viewed from the windows of the interurban cars as 
they go by. 

Mr. Morrison has two children, Charles J. and Cora E. They were 
educated in the Ogden High School. Charles is now connected with the 
city street railway system at Champaign. 

In politics Mr. Morrison has always stanchly supported the principles 
and candidates of the Eepublican party. His achievements and position in 
the county mean a great deal. Beginning life a poor orphan boy, he has 
found success by strict application to industry and honorable principles. 
He has reared his children to honor the same principles which have been 
his own guide in life. He now enjoys a pleasant home, with his capable 
daughter, Cora, acting as his housekeeper. Mr. Morrison is a hospitable, 
kind neighbor, and out of his experience has always had a deep sympathy 
for the friendless and oppressed. He richly deserves praise for his industry 
and energy and his good citizenship. 

CHESTER A. WILLIAMS. In calling attention to the men of worth in 
Newcomb Township, Champaign County, Chester A. Williams should hold 
a foremost place. He is one of the substantial men of his section, a first- 
class farmer and an intelligent, stable and useful citizen. He was born 
in Champaign County, Illinois, November 17, 1880, and is a son of Lucius 
and Mary C. (Shafer) Williams. He has one older brother, James A. 
Williams, who resides just east of his brother Chester A. He married 
Maggie Shafer, and they have four children. 

Lucius Williams was born in 1835 in Licking County, Ohio, and died on 
his farm in Newcomb Township, Champaign County, April 6, 1916. He 
came from Ohio to Champaign County about 1868 and spent the rest of 
his life here, following farming as his occupation and acquiring eighty 
acres of land in Newcomb Township as a result of his industry. In politics 
he was a Republican, but took no active part in political campaigns and 
never aspired to public office. He was well known and highly respected. 
His burial was in Shiloh Cemetery and a stone marks his last resting place. 
He is survived by his widow, who was born in Ohio seventy-five years ago. 
She resides with her children and has a wide circle of personal friends. 

Chester A. Williams was educated in the public schools and from early 
manhood has been successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits. With his 
brother James A. he owns 100 acres of fine land very favorably situated 
in Newcomb Township, which, under intelligent management, has become 
some of the most productive land in this section. 

Mr. Williams married on March 22, 1915, Miss Sadie Wright, who was 
born in Newcomb Township, August 28, 1886, and is a daughter of 
Charles and Nancy (Hannah) Wright. Mrs. Williams is one of a family 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUXTY 839 

of fourteen children and the youngest of the three who live in Champaign 
County, the other two being : Hiram, who is a farmer in Newcomb Town- 
ship, married Effie Lester and they have six children; and Arthur, who is 
also a farmer in this township, married Minnie McCay and they have six 
children. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have one son, Arthur Williams. 

Charles Wright, father of Mrs. Williams, was born in Licking County, 
Ohio, September 30, 1840, and died in Champaign County in 1892. During 
the Civil War he served as a member of the Ohio State Militia. He was 
married in Ohio to Nancy Hannah, who was born in that State and died 
in Newcomb Township July 20, 1911, and both rest in Shiloh Cemetery. 
They were faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and were 
highly respected by all who knew them. They came to Champaign County 
when Mrs. Williams was a child of six years and she grew up on her father's 
farm, under the watchful care of a wise and loving mother. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Williams began housekeeping on the 
old Williams homestead and here have remained in the enjoyment of the 
plenty and comfort that good management and frugality are apt to bring 
to the modern farmer's household. Mr. Williams is an intelligent, practical 
agriculturist, keeping thoroughly abreast of the times in all that pertains to 
farm industries and has reason to be proud of a property that every year 
is increasing in value because of his excellent methods. Mr. and Mrs. 
Williams attend the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church, of which they 
are liberal supporters, and took part in the dedication of the new church 
edifice in May, 1917. In politics he is a Eepublican and follows party 
policy closely in national campaigns, but he is somewhat independent in 
township elections and very often casts his vote for candidates who, in 
his opinion, will serve the people most efficiently and economically. Mr. 
and Mrs. Williams have a wide circle of friends, to whom their hospitable 
home is ever open. 

JAMES QUINCY THOMAS of Mahomet is now in his eighty-ninth year. 
It is a remarkable span of life which his years cover. He was born when 
Andrew Jackson was President of the United States. Not a permanent 
settlement had been fixed in Champaign County at the time of his birth. 
There were no railroads in America, no telegraph lines, very few canals, 
and none of the labor-saving devices which have transformed industry and 
social life. As a young man he swung the flail and the scythe in cutting 
and threshing grain, and not only actively experienced all the hardships of 
that primitive time, but has lived on until he has witnessed flying machines 
and other wonders of the electrical twentieth century. 

Mr. Thomas has lived in Champaign County for more than half a 
century. He is certainly one of the oldest citizens of the county and is 
perhaps the only survivor of the Mexican War living in this county. He 
was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, November 26, 1828, the only 
son and only surviving child of William E. and Mary (Thomas) Thomas. 
He had four sisters. His father was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, 
and as a boy he saw General George Washington. He grew up in his 
native state and moved to Kentucky, where he married. He died in Ken- 
tucky in 1863. As a young man he voted the Whig ticket and afterwards 
became a Eepublican. His wife was a native of Kentucky and died there 
in 1841. 

James Quincy Thomas received his education through four terms of 
attendance at subscription schools. He paid $2.50 for each term. He 
wrote with the old goose quill pen, studied the Webster's blueback spelling 
book, sat on the slab seats supported from the floor by wooden pins, and 
played all the tricks to which school 'boys of that time were accustomed. 



840 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

He deemed it something strange when he was not flogged by the school 
master each day. 

He was possessed of a vigorous constitution. He was thirteen years of 
age when his mother died and his father then told him that if he desired 
to earn money he could have all he earned. Accepting this invitation, he 
hired out to his Uncle William at $5 a month. He put in three months 
of hard labor, but never received a dollar for his time and effort. In the 
same year he changed his employment to a neighbor, with whom he worked 
for nineteen months at $7 a month and at the end of the time had $50 in 
cash. 

Mr. Thomas was not quite eighteen years of age when, on July 6, 1846, 
he enlisted in the United States army for service in the war with Mexico. 
He first went to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, went down the river to 
New Orleans, and there crossed the Gulf with his comrades to Vera Cruz, 
Mexico. He was in the army of General Winfield Scott and many times 
was assigned to stand guard at the tent of that great leader. He served 
throughout the campaign, one of the most brilliant in the annals of the 
American army, from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. He participated 
in the battles of Cerro Gordo, where the Mexican commander Santa Ana 
lost his wooden leg, at the battles of Contreros and Cherubusco, both fought 
on the same day, and on September 13, 1847, was in the storming of the 
gates of Mexico after capturing the heights of Chepultepec. A number of 
his comrades were killed on that day and. their bodies lay along the aque- 
duct. On the following day the American forces entered the City of 
Mexico, going in at one gate while Santa Ana led his troops out another. 
It fell to the lot of the regiment in which Mr. Thomas was a member to first 
hoist the stars and stripes over the halls of Montezuma. Mr. Thomas reit- 
erates what has been affirmed by many other Mexican soldiers that no battle 
was fought at Pueblo, as many school histories have stated. The capture of 
the City of Mexico practically ended the Mexican War. During the storm- 
ing of Mexico Mr. Thomas received two bullets through his clothes and 
was hit in the shoulder by a spent ball. Otherwise he escaped casualties, 
though he had many close calls. 

On June 15, 1848, he was released from the army and returned to Ken- 
tucky, where he took a job at $9 a month as tollgate keeper, boarding 
himself. For seven months he clerked in a store and not long afterward 
he took upon himself the responsibilities of a home of his own. 

December 23, 1851, he married Miss Mary A. West. Six children, 
two sons and four daughters, were born to their marriage and three are 
still living. The son John C. was educated in the common schools and is 
now a hardware merchant at Urbana, Illinois. He is a Democrat, and he 
and his wife belong to the Baptist Church. He married Miss Betty Wil- 
liamson, and they have a son, Clyde M. Russell W., the second son, had 
a common school education and is now a retired farmer living at Mans- 
field, Illinois, owning a place of 180 acres in Champaign County. He 
married Miss Mary J. Spratt, and their son is James 0. Susan M., the 
youngest of the three living children, is a member of the Baptist Church 
and is living in Mahomet Township, widow of George C. Parrett, and is 
the mother of one son, Fred R. 

The mother of these children was born in Virginia, but was reared in 
Kentucky. She was a member of the Baptist Church, and she passed away 
in August, 1899. 

On October 1, 1902, Mr. Thomas married Mrs. Mary A. Dale. She 
was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, June 7, 1830, a daughter of 
John S. Robinson. There were nine children in the Robinson family, three 
sons and six daughters, and her three brothers, Xoah L., William H. and 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 841 

John G., were all Civil War soldiers, the oldest brother veteranizing after 
three years of service. Her father was born in Kentucky, grew up there 
and subsequently removed to Illinois, having a small farm in Champaign 
County. He died at Mahomet in 1861 and was laid to rest in the Bryant 
Cemetery. He was a Whig in politics. His wife was a native of Kentucky 
and was a great-granddaughter of the celebrated Daniel Boone. She was 
a member of the Baptist Church and her death occurred in 1862. 

Mrs. Thomas was educated in the subscription schools of Sangamon 
County. Both she and her husband can relate many experiences of pioneer 
times. When she was a girl postage stamps were not in existence, and it 
frequently cost 25 cents to send a letter any distance. There were no 
matches, and the flint and steel was still used to light fires. Mrs. Thomas 
grew up in Sangamon County and her recollections here go back more than 
sixty years. She married for her first husband Isaac B. Wright. There 
were three children, one son and two daughters, but only the son is now 
living, Mr. F. 0. Wright, who is a real estate man at Mahomet. Mr. 
Wright had one son, Paul, who has recently entered the United States navy. 
Mr. Wright was a Democrat and was formerly engaged in farming, with a 
farm in Mahomet Township. His death occurred in 1880. For her 
second husband Mrs. Thomas married Thomas Dale. 

Mrs. Thomas is an active member of the Baptist Church. Mr. and 
Mrs. Thomas are one of the happy old couples of Mahomet and are honored 
by all who know them. They have a cosy and comfortable home and have 
all that their declining years need to be comfortable and happy. 

Mr. Thomas bought his first land in Mahomet Township, 120 acres, 
at $10 an acre. It did not have a sign of improvement, and his own labors 
developed a good farm. At one time he owned over 400 acres in the town- 
ship and his hard work brought him abundant success. In earlier times he 
frequently spent the entire winter herding cattle over the corn fields. 
Politically he has been a Democrat and is a member of the Masonic order 
at Mahomet. He is a Christian gentleman, and has always done his part 
in charitable movements. For many years he has been the recipient of a 
pension of $1 a day and when the Liberty Bonds were on sale he exchanged 
his pension voucher for a Liberty Bond, which he considers a good invest- 
ment for the benefit of coming generations. 

HUGH JACKSON ROBINSON. Going about the streets with firm step, 
attending to his affairs with unclouded mind, Hugh Jackson Robinson has 
attained the dignity and distinction of eight-three years of useful and 
honorable life. He is one of the oldest residents of Champaign County 
and has known this section of Illinois for over sixty years. 

He was born near Belfast, Ireland, March 28, 1833, a son of Robert and 
Maria Margaret (Jackson) Robinson. His mother, it is said, was a first 
cousin of President Andrew Jackson. The Robinsons are of Scotch stock. 
The mother died in Ireland and the father subsequently came to the United 
States and first located in Dutchess County, New York. He lived there 
until 1848, and in that year moved west to Wisconsin, which had just 
become a state. He took up a claim in Fond du Lac County and cleared 
up a farm. This was his home until his death on June 15, 1852. They 
had six children, Mary, Jane, Eleanor, John, Hugh J. and William, Hugh 
being the only one now living. The sister Mary died when nearly ninety 
years of age. 

Hugh J. Robinson acquired his early education in New York State, and 
at the age of nineteen, in the fall of 1852, came to Urbana, Illinois, with 
the Gere Brothers, tie and timber contractors. He spent four years with 
this firm getting out tie and bridge timbers. 



842 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN" COUNTY 

In 1857 Mr. Robinson acquired his first interests in Champaign County 
as a farmer, buying a quarter section in Section 33, Sadorus Township. 
This is now known as the Pioneer Grove Farm. In 1860 he brought his 
family to Champaign County and in 1866 acquired the other half of the 
north half of Section 33, and has made that the scene of an extensive bus- 
iness as a stock raiser, cattle feeder and horse breeder. 

Mr. Robinson married October 8, 1858, Jane Thrasher. She passed 
away in 1874, the mother of three children: Robert T., living in Minne- 
sota; William C., on the old homestead; and Martha Jane, who married 
William Miller and has two daughters, Edith and Jessie Miller. In 1875 
Mr. Robinson married Susan Jane Hutchinson. She was his faithful and 
trusted companion for over forty years and passed away only recently, 
in January, 1917. One son was born to their marriage, John Winfield, 
but he died at the early age of four years. 

Mr. Robinson has been a prominent factor in Champaign County's 
public affairs and for thirty years, from 1866 to 1896, was a member of 
the county board. He was elected a member of the Legislature and served 
in the Forty-first and Forty-second General Assemblies, and carefully 
looked after the interests of his constituents and also impressed his ability 
upon the legislation affecting statewide interests. He also served as town- 
ship school treasurer and director, as township collector and trustee, and 
has long been recognized as one of the leading Democrats of Champaign 
County. 

Mr. Robinson was one of the five original directors of the First 
National Bank at Ivesdale when that bank took out a national charter, 
and he has continued a director to the present time. Quite recently he 
was elected vice president of the bank. Mr. Robinson has been a Mason 
for over half a century, and has attained the Knight Templar Commandery 
degrees. His church sentiments are expressed by the Universalist denom- 
ination. Mr. Robinson continues to reside at the old homestead, and his 
fine country residence is on Rural Route No. 51 out of Sadorus. 

FRED L. LOWMAN. One of the most capable educators of Champaign 
County is the present superintendent of the Fisher public schools, Fred L. 
Lowman. He is a man of varied and versatile gifts and accomplishments, 
and well fitted for his place in the educational system of this leading 
Illinois County. He has come in close touch with the facts and problems 
of life, is a man of broad sympathies and enthusiasm and is in every way 
qualified to direct and administer a school and have charge of the training 
of the men and women of the next generation. 

Mr. Lowman was born in Champaign County, February 8, 1885. He is 
the oldest of the seven children, five sons and two daughters, of John Lewis 
and Minerva (O'Bryan) Lowman. Five children are still living. His 
father was born in Douglas County, Illinois, October 20, 1858, was edu- 
cated in the common schools, and is still living. His people came out of 
Ohio and settled near Cook's Mill in Douglas County in early days. 
John L. Lowman is a Republican and cast his first presidential vote for 
James A. Garfield, the president who began life on the towpath of a canal 
in Ohio. Mrs. John L. Lowman was born in Champaign County, February 
8, 1855. She is still living, as is her aged mother, now eighty-five. A 
coincidence is the fact that Mr. Lowman, his mother and grandmother were 
all born on February 8th. 

Mr. Fred L. Lowman, as the oldest in a large family, and his parents 
being people of moderate circumstances, he had to take the responsibilities 
of life at an early age and in his ambition to secure an education and 
make the best of his native talents had to go out and secure the means and 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 843 

opportunities as best he could. He attended the common schools and in 
1902 completed the course of the Parkville High School. After taking a 
review normal training course at Urbana, he took charge of the grade 
school work in the Parkville schools in the fall of 1902. While that was 
the beginning of his career as an educator, Mr. Lowman has never stopped 
in adding to his individual accomplishments. Much of his higher educa- 
tion was secured through correspondence courses with a correspondence 
school at Peoria, Illinois. He also took up the study of law and science 
at Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana. He carried a very heavy 
amount of work in that institution and in 1907 received a well merited 
diploma as a graduate of the law department with the degree LL. B, having 
also received 98 of the 120 units necessary for the B. S. degree. He 
lacked only two weeks of work necessary to receive his degree Bachelor 
of Oratory. Through all this course of study he worked to pay his way. 
He taught school in his home district and boarded at home, where he did 
not have to pay board, and in this manner was able to save the means 
whereby he might attend college. 

After graduating at Valparaiso Mr. Lowman went to Hammond, 
Indiana, in July, 1907, and entered the practice of law under the name 
White & Lowman. This partnership was continued until February, 1908, 
when Mr. Lowman sold his interests and then for a brief time practiced 
with a Mr. Eiley. Giving up law practice, he returned to Champaign 
County and in the 'fall of 1908 became principal of the Penfield public 
schools. He remained there four years and made an enviable record as a 
teacher. In 1913 he resumed the superintendency of the Fisher schools, 
and has been in active charge there for the past four years. His work in 
these schools has contributed materially to his prestige as a successful 
educator. 

The Fisher school building is thoroughly modern in every detail of 
construction and equipment. It is most healthily situated, standing on an 
eminence commanding a beautiful view of the town and surrounding 
country. Mr. Lowman has six teachers under his supervision. The com- 
mencement exercises for the class of 1917 occurred May 18, 1917. 

Mr. Lowman married Miss Katharine Curzon of Champaign, Illinois, 
directly related with the family of English nobility of which Lord Curzon 
is a conspicuous member. Mr. and Mrs. Lowman were married March 18, 
1906. They have one daughter, June, aged four years. 

Mrs. Lowman was born at Darrien, Connecticut, October 30, 1885. 
She was educated in the Champaign High School, from which she grad- 
uated with the class of 1904. She also took musical studies in Valparaiso 
University and for two years was a popular teacher in Parkville, Champaign 
County. She is one of the active workers of the Domestic Science Club 
at Fisher. She is also an honored member of the Eastern Star Chapter. 
Mr. Lowman is a member of the Episcopal Church, while Mrs. Lowman is a 
member of the Scientist CIvurch. He is a Eepublican politically and in 
the course of his voting he supported Mr. Taft for president. Fraternally 
he is affiliated with J. R. Gorrin Lodge No. 537, A. F. & A. M., of Sadorus, 
Illinois. 

Mr. Lowman has also taken instruction in the Carnegie School of Cor- 
respondence at Pittsburgh and at the American University of Chicago. 
There are few men in Champaign County who have a better balanced and 
altogether more liberal education. For this he enjoys special respect and 
admiration because at the outset he was a boy without means and has 
struggled along, led by a strong ambition, until he has fitted himself for a 
place of thorough usefulness in the world. 



844 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

OTHO PATTEHSOX, a native of Champaign County and representing a 
pioneer family, has for years been numbered among the progressive farmers 
and citizens, while as a horseman his reputation has extended pretty well 
over the state and throughout the country. He has bred and owned at 
his fine farm some of the fastest and finest horses ever produced in Illinois. 
Mr. Patterson is an expert in the raising and training of horses and for 
some years that has been his chief business occupation. 

He was born in St. Joseph Township, December 16, 1851, son of J. K. 
and Catherine (Swearingen) Patterson. His father was born in Ohio and 
his mother in Kentucky, the latter coming to Illinois with her parents. 
J. K. Patterson and wife were married in this county. Of the events and 
experiences that make up the bulk of Champaign County's history during 
the past seventy-five years the Patterson family has had its full share. 
J. K. Patterson showed himself a man of spirit and enterprise even when 
young. In 1839 he rode horseback all the way from Columbus, Ohio, to 
Champaign County for the purpose of looking over the country. Though 
the land was a vast virgin prairie, abounding with sloughs, he recognized 
its fertility and the prospect of future development, and accordingly filed 
on 160 acres. At that time the land office was at Danville, and 'he went 
there to secure the papers and pay the regulation price of $1.25 per acre. 
On returning home to Ohio he told his uncle, Thomas Kilgore, of what he 
had done and also spoke of an adjoining forty acres which he greatly 
desired, but lack of money prevented his taking it up. His uncle, who 
admired the pluck of the young man, said, "If that is all that is lacking 
I will furnish the money," which he promptly did. Again J. K. Patterson 
made the long trip to Illinois and filed on the coveted forty acres at Dan- 
ville. He took possession of this land and a year or so later he married 
the daughter of a neighbor, Catherine Swearingen. During the first year 
spent by the Patterson family in Champaign County they took their grist 
to mill at Covington, Indiana. The roads were little more than trails and 
often impassable on account of the mud. While a team could not drag a 
wagon over the highways of that time, it was possible by uncoupling the 
running gear and loading the grain in a box on the two front wheels to 
accomplish the journey to Covington, though not without a great deal of 
difficulty at that. 

In the family of J. K. and Catherine Patterson were eight children, 
four sons and four daughters. By a singular coincidence six of these chil- 
dren were born in the month of December. They were educated in some 
of those old-time log schoolhouses which have been made familiar by many 
pictures of old-time conditions. This schoolhouse which the Patterson 
children attended had rough plank seats, supported by legs from the floor 
and a broad desk or board was fastened to the wall by pins and furnished 
space for writing. Otho Patterson has an interesting recollection of an 
incident of his boyhood, when he carried a dozen eggs to market. These 
eggs were sold at the little grocery store of Uncle Joe Kelley, proprietor of 
the famous old Kelley Tavern, the most historic landmark of early Cham- 
paign County. 

J. K. Patterson proved equal to the burdens and responsibilities of mak- 
ing good as a pioneer. He was an industrious worker and farmer and 
enjoyed a large degree of prosperity. In the early days he hauled wheat 
to market at Chicago, and bought and sold stock on a large scale. After 
collecting a large number of hogs they were driven overland to market at 
Cincinnati. He and his wife were devoted members of the Church of 
Christ and they did a great deal of good in the community where they 
settled and where they left names associated with complete honesty and 
integrity of character. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 845 

Otho Patterson grew up in the midst of such pioneer conditions. When 
a young man he sought a wife and companion, and going to Economy in 
Wayne County, Indiana, married Miss Sarah E. Wood. Mrs. Patterson 
was born in Henry County, Indiana, daughter of Joseph and Mary A. 
(Davis) Wood. When their daughter Sarah was five months old her 
parents moved back to Ohio. Her father was a native of Virginia and 
was an early settler in Ohio. When Mrs. Patterson was thirteen years of 
age her parents returned to Indiana. She had in the meantime attended 
school at Wilmington, the county seat of Clinton County. She grew to 
young womanhood in old Wayne County, Indiana, and her home was close 
by the famous national road, recently called the "Gateway of the West." 
This is one of the most famous highways in America's history, and as a 
girl Mrs. Patterson daily witnessed long trains of emigrant wagons, fre- 
quently thirty covered wagons in a line, wending their way to the great 
West. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Patterson located on land belonging 
to his father. Four years later, in October, 1875, Mr. Patterson's father 
died. The next year the estate was divided and Otho inherited fifty-one 
and a half 'acres. Moving to that land he began its development and 
improvement, and that has been the scene of his splendid success as a 
farmer and stockman. He has increased his holdings, and has made 
improvements of the most substantial character, including a large home, 
surrounded with groves of fruit and shade trees, and the entire place stands 
as a monument to his industry. For years Mr. Patterson has been one of 
the liberal users of cement as a durable and practical construction material, 
and his home is surrounded with cement walks, the stock watering troughs 
are constructed of the same material and the character of this material is 
in line with the substantial nature of Mr. Patterson's industry and accom- 
plishment in other lines. 

For years he has given much of his attention to the raising and training 
of thoroughbred running horses. These horses have a national reputation. 
One of them, Doctor Murray, made a record of half a mile in forty-nine 
seconds, five-eighths of a mile in a minute and two seconds, and at the St. 
Louis races beat Bob Wade, holder of the first world's record for a quarter 
mile. In that race Bob Wade ran second in a race of three-eighths of a 
mile, the time of the winner being thirty-six seconds. In the blue grass 
regions of Kentucky it would not be possible to find a more enthusiastic 
horseman than Mr. Patterson. Some of the splendid animals that have 
been kept in his stables should be mentioned. They are : Sally Kelly, 
by Jim Kelly, dam Euby D'Or, by Robert D'Or; Pearl Lewis, from Jim 
Kelly and Dolly Bell; Wild Cherry, by Wilford and Cerise; Ruby 
D'Or, out of Robert D'Or and Nannie B ; May Cherry, sired by Robert 
D'Or, dam Wild Cherry Blossom by Wild Cherry; Oonoomoo, by Robert 
D'Or and Dolly Bell, Oonoomoo having been a great favorite in New 
Orleans and in one season winning twenty-two straight races. At the pres- 
ent writing the Patterson stables contain the following horses: Oonie, 
sired "by Jim Kelly, dam Dolly Bell ; Kitty Muldoon, by Hans Vanderbum 
and May Cherry II; Nellie Rawlings, by Jim Kelly and Tenny Miller: 
Billy Siders, by Hokobokee and Dolly Bell ; Doctor Murray, from Hokobokee 
and May Cherry II ; Tobias, by Hans Vanderbum and Ruby D'Or : Hans 
Vanderbum, by Jim Kelly and Dolly Bell ; Hokobokee, by Jim Kelly and 
Ruby D'Or; Little Johnnie, by Jim Kelly and Sadie D'Or. 

Breeding and raising and training of fine grades of stock has been Mr. 
Patterson's occupation and diversion for forty years. He is everywhere 
known among horsemen and his enterprise has added another laurel to 
Champaign County's crown of greatness as an agricultural and stock-raising 

2 21 



846 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

center. Some years ago Mr. Patterson sold six head of horses in Chicago 
for use as polo horses. 

While his business has required his constant care and management Mr. 
Patterson has not neglected the public welfare. For thirteen years he was 
road commissioner of St. Joseph Township, and some of the best roads in 
the county are to be credited to his work in that direction. During all 
those thirteen years he missed only two meetings of the board of commis- 
sioners. He has also served as school director, has been first and last an 
enthusiastic advocate of a good drainage system both on individual farms 
and by districts. Politically Republican, he was reared in the atmosphere 
of that party, and since casting his first vote has never missed a presi-' 
dential election. The Patterson home is noted for its hospitality, and not 
a little for the success which he has achieved Mr. Patterson credits to his 
good wife, who joined him on the road of life when their capital was exceed- 
ingly limited and has been by his side steadily through all the years that 
have followed. It was Mrs. Patterson who selected many of the distinctive 
and appropriate names for his race horses. 

FRANK DELANEY. For forty years Champaign County has been the 
home of Frank Delaney, and his name, especially in Newcomb Township, 
is spoken with every degree of respect attaching to a man whose achieve- 
ments have been commendable and whose influence has been in every degree 
salutary and beneficial in the community. Mr. Delaney is now serving as 
township supervisor. 

He was born in McLean County, Illinois, September 13, 1868, one of 
the ten children of James and Bridget (Trainer) Delaney. Of the six 
sons and four daughters eight are still living. James Delaney was a native 
of the Emerald Isle, grew up in Ireland, and when he came to America 
he was truly a stranger in a strange land and almost penniless. He had to 
cross the ocean on a sailing vessel and it was eleven weeks before the 
vessel landed its passengers in New York. After a brief residence in 
New York State he came West to Bloomington, Illinois. He was not in 
financial circumstances that would permit him an independent career at 
the start, and as a wage earner he worked on farms until he could accu- 
mulate enough to become an independent farmer. Agriculture was his life- 
long vocation. After strict economy for a number of years he was able to 
buy eighty acres of land, which original tract is in the fine farm now 
owned and occupied by his son Frank. That the subsequent years brought 
him ample prosperity and reward for his good judgment and industry is 
indicated by the fact that during his lifetime he acquired an estate of 860 
acres, 540 acres in Champaign County and 320 acres in Hancock County, 
Iowa. The death of this hard working farmer occurred in Champaign 
County in 1892. He was a Democrat, and an active member of St. 
Malachi Catholic Church at Rantoul. His wife was also a native of Ireland 
and a devout Catholic. She died in 1912. 

In the years of early boyhood Frank Delaney learned the lesson taught 
by experience that there is no excellence without labor and that the best 
rewards of life are paid to due diligence and an earnest pursuit of definite 
ends. By the same principle he obtained most of his early education. 
When he left home it was to become a wage earner and farm hand, and 
the first year he worked at $20 a month. He then started as a renter, 
and while he has long owned a share in the agricultural lands of Cham- 
paign County he continued as a tenant farmer until about five years ago. 
With three of his brothers he had bought 150 acres of land, and he and 
his brother Henry subsequently bought the other shares. With this as a 
nucleus Frank Delaney has increased his possessions until his estate now 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 847 

comprises 396 acres situated in Newcomb and Brown townships. In these 
modern days such a farm spells independence and success. His home place 
is thoroughly improved and it has a comfortable residence. Besides his 
farm Mr. Delaney is a stockholder in the Lotus Coal and Grain Elevator 
Company at Lotus, Illinois. 

The chief impetus to his efforts during all these years has been his 
good wife and their growing family. On April 5, 1893, he married Miss 
Anna L. McGuire. They have four living children, two sons and two 
daughters. Leonard F. was educated in the common schools and is now a 
practical young agriculturist. He is a Democrat and a member of the 
Catholic Church at Bellflower, Illinois. Wayne H., the younger son, has 
completed the common school course and is now in the second year of the 
Fisher High School. Catherine F. is a student in St. Joseph's Academy at 
Bloomington, Illinois, and along with literary studies has taken musical 
instruction. Hazel, the youngest, is in the Walker School. The children 
have all been carefully reared and the older ones have been confirmed in the 
Catholic Church. 

Mrs. Delaney was born in DeWitt County, Illinois. She had a common 
school education. Her parents, Michael and Catherine McGuire, are still 
living and have their home in Fisher. They are members of the Catholic 
parish at Eantoul. Mrs. Delaney has her membership in the Catholic 
Church at Bellflower and both she and her husband did much to aid the 
parish in the erection of the church. Mrs. Delaney is strictly a home 
woman and finds her greatest delight in the duties of home making and her 
children. 

Politically Mr. Delaney has always been a Democrat. His fellow citi- 
zens have sought his co-operation through public office and he served as 
road commissioner three years, and for eighteen years was a director of 
his home school district. In 1917 he was unanimously elected to the office 
of supervisor of Newcomb Township. This is the highest and most impor- 
tant township office. Mr. Delaney has always shown himself a ready advo- 
cate and supporter of the good roads movement. He is a member of the 
Catholic Church at Bellflower. Like many other prosperous Champaign 
County farmers, he has an automobile both for business and pleasure and 
his Buick touring car places his country home in close touch with church, 
school and the village and city centers. 

A. J. KIRKPATBICK. By many activities and associations the name 
Kirkpatrick is identified with the best traditions of Champaign County. 
Of this family A. J. Kirkpatrick is widely known as one of the most capable 
agriculturists and his success consists not only in the thorough manage- 
ment of the resources of the soil but also in his contributions to the 
improvement and beautifying of the rural landscape. Mr. Kirkpatrick is 
proprietor of the Blue Mound Farm in Stanton Township. 

He was born at Champaign, February 17, 1854, a son of John C. and 
Mary C. (Busey) Kirkpatrick. His parents represented two of the noted 
pioneer families in this county. A. J. Kirkpatrick was the second among 
eight children, and during his boyhood days he attended the public schools 
of Champaign with his brothers and sisters. He can remember a time 
when Champaign consisted of a hamlet of only seven houses. 

In the Mayview Methodist Episcopal Church, on September 5, 1875, 
with Rev. B. Bartholow officiating, Mr. Kirkpatrick married Miss Alice 
Barricklow. She was born at Urbana, daughter of John T. and Phoebe 
Jane (Hudson) Barricklow. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kirk- 
patrick continued to live in St. Joseph Township and started farming on 
the property of his father. Later he bought 120 acres in Stanton Township 



848 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

adjoining the 120 acres which his father had given him. This new land 
had no improvements, and in the course of years he developed its virgin 
prairies into productive fields, put up commodious houses, planted fruit and 
shade trees, and the fruits of his industry there are in themselves an impor- 
tant contribution to the welfare and attractiveness of Champaign County. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick were born four children, two sons and 
two daughters: Myrtle, Maude and Claude, the last two being twins. 
The children were educated in the Hunt and Blue Mound district schools, 
while Earl and Maude attended the Urbana High School. They are now 
. comfortably settled in life. Myrtle married William Woolever, a farmer 
at Auburn, Indiana, and her four children are Clare, Leal, Merle and 
Hazel. The son Earl is active manager of a fine farm of 280 acres owned 
by his father near Mayview. He married Miss Maymie Polter and has 
three children : Lysle, Raymond and Wilma. The daughter Maude Kirk- 
patrick is the wife of Wiley Johnson, a farmer in Stanton Township, and 
has two children, Nolan and Glen. Claude Kirkpatrick has accepted an 
opportunity offered him by his father in the management of the home 
estate, and with his family occupies a house specially built for them by his 
father. Claude married Miss Hazel Shaw, a native of Urbana, who was 
educated in the high school of that city. 

The mother of these children saw them grow up and carefully super- 
vised their early training, and her death on June 16, 1908, was a heavy 
bereavement to the family and the community. On September 11, 1913, 
Mr. Kirkpatrick married Mrs. Idabel (Fisher) Yerger. She was the widow 
of S. 0. Yerger. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was born in Indiana, two miles from 
the famous Tippecanoe battleground. Her paternal grandparents, Daniel 
and Mary (Chapman) Fisher, were the first people married in Washington 
Township of Tippecanoe County. 

The Kirkpatrick homestead of 297 acres is a splendid picture of comfort 
and rural adornment. A fine grove of trees near the home furnishes a cool 
and leafy retreat and a traveler may ride far and wide over Champaign 
County without witnessing a more complete picture of ruial adequacy and 
agricultural efficiency. Besides being a practical and natural farmer, Mr. 
Kirkpatrick is an expert mechanic. His fine country home was built by 
himself as contractor and architect, and he also installed the acetylene light 
system, and the gasoline engine which furnishes power for pumping water 
through the house and about the grounds. 

The Kirkpatrick family are active members of the Mayview Methodist 
Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Kirkpatrick has for many years held a 
membership. Mrs. Kirkpatrick was reared a Congregationalist. Mr. Kirk- 
patrick has served the church in official capacities and has been superin- 
tendent of the Sunday school. Politically he is a loyal supporter of the 
temperance cause, and wherever possible directs his influence and help in 
that direction. In 1916 he supported President Wilson for another term. 
Mr. Kirkpatrick is a man of public spirit and also interested in community 
welfare. For a number of years he served as director of the local schools 
and as township assessor. 

Mrs. Kirkpatrick by her first husband had two children, Leland and 

Gertrude Yerger. Leland is a locomotive engineer with the Grand Trunk 

Railway and lives at Battle Creek, Michigan. He married Lydia Bull 

and has children named Elwood, Leland, Idabel and Leola. Gertrude 

' Yerger married E. E. Weldy, a jeweler at Danville, Illinois. They have 

one child, Yerger Edward. 

Mr. Kirkpatrick's parents were very active members of the Mayview 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and each of them donated a memorial window 
to that beautiful chapel. When a young man Mr. Kirkpatrick had hauled 
material for some of the university buildings at "Urbana. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 849 

Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick celebrated their wedding by a 1,000-mile tour 
through Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, making that trip through the most 
beautiful months of the year, September and October. September is con- 
sidered a lucky month in the Kirkpatrick family. Mr. Kirkpatrick was 
married in that month both times, and his twin children, Maude and Claude, 
selected that time for their weddings. 

Mr. A. J. Kirkpatrick some years ago left the farm and took, up study 
in the College of Hygiene at Champaign under Dr. Frank Ross. He grad- 
uated June 10, 1901, received a diploma, and went to Nashville, Tennessee, 
and engaged in the practice of medicine. He had begun the study of medi- 
cine for his own benefit and pleasure before taking it up as a profession. 
After a brief practice he found the lure of the farm irresistible and agri- 
culture more congenial to his practical tastes. He is, as already stated, a 
natural farmer. His beautiful and well-kept fields and fine country home 
attest that fact, and while he is really a landlord, he is first of all a good 
business manager and a thorough farmer. He has been a useful man in 
his community and interested in the promotion of every movement for the 
general welfare. 

Recently Mrs. Kirkpatrick sustained a double bereavement in the death 
of her parents at Salem, Oregon. She had at different times lived with 
them for several months at a time. While in the Northwest she took 
special pleasure in the beautiful scenery. She visited the city of Portland 
at the time of the great rose carnival, an exhibition of rare beauty to the 
eastern tourist. She witnessed the water pageant on the Willamette River 
with its miles of boats gaily festooned with roses, with King Rex crowned 
with, regal authority on his throne of roses, accompanied by his court 
retinue, amid the salutes of hundreds of guns. Towering above the scene 
was Mount Hood, with its snow-capped crown in the clouds, and altogether 
it was a gorgeous spectacle such as deserves to be long remembered. 

ALBERT A. HYDE. A native of Champaign County and one who has 
spent his entire life within its borders, watching its development throughout 
the years of its greatest growth, Albert A. Hyde is so well known to the 
citizens of this great agricultural center that it may seem supererogatory 
to give his record in detail in a work of this kind. On the other hand, 
Mr. Hyde is one of those who have helped to make history in the county. 
He has not merely been a witness to progress he has also been a participant 
in the movements which have made for the same, and his record of citizen- 
ship is also worthy of note. 

Albert A. Hyde was born November 7, 1856, in Champaign County, 
Illinois, the third in a family of six children born to Adolphus W. and 
Sophia H. (Choate) Hyde. Of these children five are living: Elizabeth, 
who is the wife of G. E. Durbin, an agriculturist in the vicinity of Backus, 
Minnesota; Peoria, who is the widow of Joseph L. Neal, also resides at 
Backus ; Albert A., of this review ; Carrie A., who is the wife of J. H. Abbott, 
a retired farmer of Lincoln, Illinois; and Adolphus Bruce, a prosperous 
farmer and miller of East Bend Township. The father of these children 
was born in Switzerland County, Indiana, February 16, 1835, and in his 
youth learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, which he had mastered 
before coming to this State in young manhood. In Illinois he was married, 
but returned to Indiana and spent four years in the Hoosier State, then 
coming back to the prairie country, where he settled on the land which had 
been taken up by his father from the United States Government, and the 
deed for which bears the bond and seal of Franklin Pierce, under date of 
January 3, 1856. This paper is still in the possession of Albert A. Hyde, 
and is a document which will be handed down with pride to his descendants. 



850 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Adolphus W. Hyde was first a Whig and later a Republican, and his vote 
was sturdily given to Abraham Lincoln at a time when the country needed 
every loyal citizen. While not a man who courted honors or sought prefer- 
ence above his fellows, he was one who recognized and appreciated the 
duties of citizenship, and for nineteen years served capably and consci- 
entiously as township treasurer of East Bend Township. Mr. Hyde was 
of English stock and traced his ancestry to a family that was due to receive 
a large inheritance. However, he made no public mention of the fact, 
and seemed to be perfectly content to have his reputation rest upon the 
things that he did himself and not the accomplishments of those who had 
gone before him. When he died, October 27, 1907, a faithful member was 
lost to the Methodist Church, which he had joined in 1881 and which 
he had helped to build, as had also his son, Albert A., of this review. He 
was laid to rest in Mount Hope Cemetery. Mrs. Hyde was born in the 
same county as her husband, January 25, 1828, and died June 20, 1909. 
Her example and precept had been such as to guide her children along 
the right paths; her training was of the kind that brought them up to 
straightforward and sterling manhood and useful and modest womanhood ; 
and her memory will be kept forever green in the minds of her children as 
a kind, loving and always self-sacrificing mother. 

In a home of this kind it was not unnatural that Albert Hyde should 
grow up with ideals of clean and honorable living; nor is it surprising 
that he should remain under the parental roof until he was thirty years 
of age. Aside from the education that he secured in the public schools 
and the training that he gained during the leisure to be found in a family 
in which each member was supposed to do his or her part in contributing 
to the general income, he is a self-educated man. During his career he has 
seen much, has observed more, has gained information through association 
with his fellow men, has exercised a mind naturally bright, and as a result 
he is well informed, intelligent and alive to all that is going on in the 
great world, and able to converse upon it in a way that leaves no doubt as 
to his information. Brought up an agriculturist, he has been content to 
follow the vocation of the husbandman, and his fine tilled fields show the 
result of his industry and good management. 

Mr. Hyde married March 18, 1886, Miss Alice M. Norton, and they 
are the parents of four children : Edith, who is the wife of P. M. Hamm, 
connected with the United States Mail Service at Dewey, Illinois; Nellie, 
who resides with her parents ; Marian A. ; and Paul A. 

Mrs. Hyde is a native of Pickaway County, Ohio, born April 29, 1861, 
a daughter of Edwin D. -and Mary (Rhoades) Norton. There were four 
sons and three daughters in the family, and of these five children are resi- 
dents of Champaign County. Edwin D. Norton was born in Pennsylvania, 
February 26, 1830, and died December 20, 1898. He went to Ohio as a 
young man and resided there until 1865, and during his residence in that 
State served as postmaster at Tarleton during the administration of Presi- 
dent Lincoln. In 1871 he came to Champaign County, Illinois, and made 
his home here until his death, which occurred on his farm in the vicinity 
of Bondville. He cast his vote for Fremont and was a stanch and sturdy 
Republican. Mrs. Norton was born in Indiana, January 13, 1838, and 
is still living, at the age of seventy-nine years, being a resident of Cham- 
paign. She is a faithful member of the Methodist Church and one of the 
most beloved ladies of her community. Mrs. Hyde, after completing the 
public school course, spent two years at Monticello High School, and for 
four years following was one of the most popular and successful teachers in 
Champaign County. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
in the work of which she takes an active part, as she does also in the 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 851 

activities of the Ladies' Aid Society, to which she also belongs. Like her 
husband, she is a firm believer in the value of education, and the Hyde 
children have been given every opportunity to fit themselves for the battle 
of life. 

Mr. Hyde's first vote was cast for President Garfield, and since that 
time he has been an active and helpful supporter of every candidate who 
has headed the Eepublican ticket. For the past six years he has been a 
member of the board of directors of the public schools. His fraternal con- 
nection is with Camp No. 6319, Modern Woodmen of America, at Dewey. 
The well-cultivated and handsome 160-acre Hyde estate is situated two and 
one-half miles east of Dewey, on the North and South Road, in East Bend 
Township, and upon it stands the modern and hospitable home where the 
family's many friends are always welcome. 

CHARLES BOYS is one of the oldest residents of Champaign County, 
where he has witnessed the changes of fortunes of life in this community 
for over fifty years. Hard work has been the keynote of his career, and 
with that as a fundamental qualification it seems that everything he has 
touched has responded to his management and has served to increase his 
prosperity. Mr. Boys became one of the large land owners of Champaign 
County and was for years noted as one of the cattle kings of this section of 
Illinois. 

He is a native of New England, son of Loren and Alvira Boys, also 
of New England stock. When he was a small child the parents removed to 
Chautauqua County, New York, and soon afterward to Michigan. Charles 
Boys while growing to manhood learned the trade of plasterer and brick- 
layer. From Michigan he went to Chicago, and remained there two years, 
working at his trade for wages of $1 a day, boarding and keeping himself. 

It was on the 9th of September, 1852, that Mr. Boys left Chicago and 
came to Urbana. In that small town he spent another two years working 
at his trade. Then, at the age of twenty-two, he laid the foundation of 
his own home by his marriage to Matilda E. Morris. She was born in 
Pennsylvania, daughter of a physician and a well known former business 
man of Champaign County. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Boys remained in Urbana for six 
months, and he then accepted an invitation from Doctor Morris to move 
to Salt Fork and enter a partnership in a general mercantile 'store. Mer- 
chandising was an item of his experience for one year, but keeping store 
proved too confining and was not satisfying to his disposition for a more 
active life. Leaving the store, he rented a farm near St. Joseph for five 
years, and there laid the foundation of his permanent prosperity. From 
his savings as a renter he bought 120 acres in St. Joseph Township, and as 
that transaction occurred many years ago the price of the land was only 
$10 an acre. On that farm he made his real substantial start in life. It 
was only a short time before he began adding to his holdings, purchasing 
the next year forty acres in Stanton Township. He was concerned not 
only with the cultivation of his land in the most practical way, but the 
construction of good building improvements, the planting of trees, arid 
always took care that his farm should measure up to the best standards of 
Champaign County rural life. 

Mr. and Mrs. Boys had seven children : Benjamin, who died at the 
age of three years ; Alvira, who died in infancy ; and Ida M., Hannah H., 
Ella, Clint and William. The local district schools gave these children 
their early advantages, and those to grow up have since married and set- 
tled in homes of their own and have reflected honor upon their parents. 
Ida M. Boys is now the wife of Jesse Archer, a St. Joseph Township 



852 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

farmer, and their family consists of four children, Myrtle, Charles, Clint T. 
and Chester. The daughter Hannah is the wife of Charles Lehr, and also 
has four children, Roscoe, Cody, Beatrice and Opal. Ella married J. E. 
Hiser and is the mother of Charles, Raymond, Grace and Ruby. Clint 
married Ada Peeps and has two children, Fern and John. William remains 
on the old homestead and manages the place for his father. He married 
Minnie Vest, and their family consists of Charles, Opal and Esther. 

The home of the Boys family has always been noted for its hospitality 
and the kindly, neighborly influences emanating therefrom. Mr. and Mrs. 
Boys gave their liberal support and membership to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. In 1895 the death angel entered this home and Mrs. Boys entered 
into rest. After her death Mr. Boys found his children willing and kindly 
home makers and has continued to live on the old farm. The years have 
liberally rewarded him with substantial success, and at the present time 
his holdings aggregate 1,000 acres. For many years he fed cattle on a 
large scale, buying in the fall and feeding until the stock were right for 
market. He is one of the men. who came to Champaign County with a 
very small stock of trade capital and has raised himself to a plane of afflu- 
ence, has reared a family of industrious and capable children, and in his 
declining years a large community respects his activities and honors his 
character. His public spirit has been manifested chiefly in behalf of good 
schools in his community, and for a number of years he filled the office of 
school director. 

ADAM KRONER. In making productive the vast prairies of the Middle 
West no one class of people has borne a more steady and effective part thari 
the German element, and particularly to those who came as colonists after 
the German revolutionary troubles of the '40s. Representing the second 
generation of this element is Mr. Adam Kroner, concerning whose work 
and standing as a Champaign County agriculturist only the highest words 
of praise may be spoken. Mr. and Mrs. Kroner occupy a fine home in 
Newcomb Township. Mrs. Kroner is also of a prominent German family 
of the county, and at all times has proved herself a valuable helpmate and 
counsel to Mr. Kroner in the establishment and building up of their 
beautiful rural home. 

Mr. Kroner was born in Dearborn County, Indiana, July 29, 1865. He 
was the fourth in a family of six children, five sons and one daughter, 
whose parents were Frederick and Marie Kroner. Four of these children 
are still living: Emma, wife of Charles Zimmerman, a farmer at Wise- 
burg in Dearborn County, Indiana ; Adam ; Christ, who is unmarried and 
has a farm at Yorkville in eastern Indiana ; and Martin, who is married 
and owns a good farm home in Dearborn County. 

Frederick Kroner was a Bavarian German and was born in the old 
country in 1825. His death occurred in 1901. He served an apprentice- 
ship and was a journeyman mechanic, but subsequently turned his attention 
to agriculture. He was educated in German schools and when a young 
man sailed for America, spending many weeks on the ocean in one of the 
slow-going sailing vessels. He first located in New York State, afterward 
lived in Cincinnati and finally in Dearborn County in southern Indiana- 
There he bought 120 acres, and though he went in debt he kept steadily at 
the task until he had his -land paid for and was rated as one of the sub- 
stantial agriculturists of that vicinity. Politically he became a Republican. 
He and his wife were members of the German Lutheran Church. His wife 
was born in Germany in 1834, and died in 1901, the same year as her 
husband. 

Adam Kroner spent his childhood and early youth in his home county. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 853 

He attended school and received instruction in both the German and English 
languages. At the age of twenty-one he started out to make his own fortune 
in the world. Having no capital he had to depend upon the labor of his 
hands. His wages for a time were only $12 a month. On such a low 
salary he was able to test his ability as a thrifty man, and he put aside 
some of these meager earnings for future use. For seven years he continued 
to work at farm labor in Indiana and Illinois. 

In 1889 he came to Illinois and spent the first year in Piatt County. 
From there he came to Champaign County and for two years was employed 
as a wage earner by Mr. Ludwig Liestman. He next rented some land, and 
by slow and steady progress has raised himself from comparative poverty 
until he now stands among the successful men of Champaign County. 

On October 29, 1893, Mr. Kroner married Miss Lizzie Liestman. Into 
their home came three sons. In the goodness of their hearts they have 
also adopted a daughter, Lucile Liestman. Of their sons Frederick L., 
the oldest, finished the common schools and for three years was a student 
in the Mahomet High School. After that he taught two years in his home 
township and in 1915 entered the University of Illinois, where he studied 
journalism. He is now a student in the dental department of North- 
western University of Chicago, a member of the class of 1919. Politically 
he is a Democrat, a member of the German Lutheran Church, and belongs 
to several fraternities. William Otto, the second son, has finished his 
common school course and has shown unusual energy and ability as a 
practical farmer and stockman. He, like his brother, is a Democrat and 
a member of the German Lutheran Church. Louis Albert, the youngest 
child, is a bright and earnest student now in the third grade of the public 
schools. Mr. and Mrs. Kroner have always taken the utmost pains with 
the education and training of their sons. 

Mrs. Kroner was born in Piatt County, Illinois, May 23, 1873. She 
was third in age among a family of twelve children, seven sons and five 
daughters. She is a daughter of Ludwig and Frederika (Kersten) Liest- 
man. Of their family eight children are still living. Four have their home 
in Champaign County. Two sons, Herman and Frank, live at Alief in 
Harris County, Texas. Another son, William, is an agriculturist and 
gardener in Webster, Florida. 

Ludwig Liestman was born near Berlin, Germany, in 1837. His life 
was a long and useful one, and came to a close in Champaign County in 
1914. He grew up in his native land, was educated in the German tongue, 
and was twenty-two years of age when he came to America in 1859. The 
voyage was made on a sailing vessel, and he landed from the ship a stranger 
in a strange land, without money, without friends, and with only his 
earnest, hard-working German characteristics as a means of opening the 
door of success. A sister was living in Bloomington, Illinois, and that 
city was his first destination. He found employment at day wages. He 
was paid a meager salary, but it offered an opportunity for him to adapt 
himself to the ways and practices of the new country, and he was not long 
in getting ahead. He capitalized his earnings until he was justified in 
buying some land in sections 7 and 18 of Newcomb Township, Champaign 
County. For one who had come to America a poor immigrant there is 
scarcely a more striking case of conspicuous success among all the citizens 
of Champaign County. Out of his prosperity he was able to give 600 
acres of rich land to his sons, and besides that he owned a large farm of 
480 acres. He reared his large family to lives of \isefulness and honor, 
and his name is still spoken with respect and esteem throughout the county. 
He was a Democrat and a member of the German Lutheran Church. In 
1905 he retired from his farm to the city of Champaign arid spent his last 



854 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

years there. Mr. and Mrs. Kroner have in their home an engraving show- 
ing her father in the uniform of a body guard to Kaiser Wilhelm I, father 
of the present German emperor. 

Mrs. Liestman, mother of Mrs. Kroner, was born almost in the same 
locality as her husband. She died in the city of Champaign in 1902. 
Life meant to her an unceasing round of devotion and duty performed in 
her home and to her children, and she was also strikingly generous and the 
poor and needy were never turned empty handed from her door. She and 
her husband now rest in Woodlawn Cemetery at Champaign, where a hand- 
some monument stands sacred to their memory. 

Mrs. Kroner attended the common schools, and at her marriage was 
well qualified for the duties of home making and as a counselor to her 
husband. She is cordial in manner and has a host of friends in Champaign 
County. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kroner are Democrats in politics. They are regular 
members and aided substantially in the erection of the German Lutheran 
Church at Osman. Officially Mr. Kroner served four years as road com- 
missioner, and for three years was school director, and Mrs. Kroner has 
also been a director of the public schools. Their home farm consists of 
one hundred and sixty acres of land, the southeast quarter of Section 
Twenty-nine in Newcomb Township. Better land it would be difficult 
to find anywhere in the length and breadth of Champaign County. Mr. 
and Mrs. Kroner have remodeled their residence and all the barns and 
outbuildings, and have shown great taste in securing homelike surround- 
ings as well as developing the farm to a higher degree of efficiency. 

CHARLES D. THOMPSON has been a resident of Ogden for many years, 
and enjoys a substantial position in that community because of his record 
as a good citizen and his honest workmanship as a painter and paper hanger. 

Mr. Thompson was born August 24, 1853, at Leesburg in Kosciusko 
County, Indiana, son of John and Hester (Rhodes) Thompson. His father 
was born near Chillicothe and his mother in Marion County, Ohio. From 
Ohio the parents removed to Indiana and two months after the birth of 
Charles his mother died. Bereft of his mother, the infant was taken into 
the home of an aunt in Ohio, where he lived until 1861. He then joined 
his father and the other five children in Illinois. Charles D. Thompson 
is the only one of his brothers and sisters still living. 

He attended public school in Ohio and finished school at Sidney in 
Champaign County. He grew to manhood near Homer and in 1881, at 
the age of twenty-eight, married Miss Frances Sweet. Mrs. Thompson was 
born near Manchester in Delaware County, Iowa, daughter of Samuel and 
Maria (Lee) Sweet. Her father was born near Rutland, Vermont, and 
her mother in Virginia. Her mother was a second cousin of General 
Robert E. Lee. Maria Lee's grandfather, James Lee, and the famous 
"Light Horse" Harry Lee of Revolutionary fame were brothers. When 
Mrs. Thompson was four and a half years of age her mother died, and at 
the age of six she came to Mahomet, Illinois, with her father, who passed 
away a year later. After that she was reared by her foster parents, Mr. 
and Mrs. S. H. Lyons, a pioneer family of Champaign County. Mrs. 
Thompson acquired a good education and at the age of eighteen received 
her first certificate from the county superintendent to teach. Her first 
school was the Burr Oak School, five miles north of Ogden. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Thompson located in Ogden Town- 
ship, near where the village of Royal now stands. They engaged in farming 
on rented land and went through a number of years in which thrift and 
economy were the prime necessities of existence. For twelve years they 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 855 

continued farming and then came to the village of Ogden, where they 
have had a pleasant home in the north end of town for the past twenty 
years. During that time Mr. Thompson's services as a paper hanger and 
decorator have been in great demand. 

He and his wife are attentive members of the New Light Christian 
Church, known as Prospect Church, a center of religious enlightenment 
which has stood as a means and instrument of good in this community for 
many years. In politics both Mr. and Mrs. Thompson give their support 
to the Eepublican ticket, but chiefly to the man of principle and thorough 
fitness for the office in question. They are pronounced advocates of pro- 
hibition and temperance. Mr. Thompson has made a success in life and 
through all the years has had the aid and counsel of a good wife and a 
thorough home maker. 

When Mr. Thompson moved out on to the prairie in 1869 there was no 
town of Ogden and no railroad, and only five houses in sight. All around 
was waving prairie grass and wet sloughs. He recalls that in the summer 
the stock suffered grievously from the horse flies. Many times when the 
women would drive to Eantoul to market, while the husbands remained at 
home working in the fields, the flies would attack the horses and in their 
suffering they would lie down and roll over to get rid of the pests. The 
women would then have to get down and get the team out of the tangle, 
and it might be necessary to repeat this performance several times before 
reaching Eantoul. Mr. Thompson's experiences go back to a time when 
the nearest postoffice was at Urbana and he appreciates the great contrast 
when mail is carried daily to the doorstep of every home in the county. 
When Mrs. Thompson was a small school girl in this county the teacher 
one day announced that school would be dismissed in order that the children 
might see the first train go by on the tracks of the I., B. & W. Eailway. 
Mrs. Thompson and the other children climbed a plank fence in order to 
witness a spectacle the memory of which has never been erased from her 
mind. Fraternally Mr. Thompson is a Woodman and Odd Fellow and 
Mrs. Thompson is affiliated with the Eoyal Neighbors and the Daughters of 
Eebekah. 

GEORGE G. IRLE. In the famous farming district of Champaign 
County, where the possession of land spells prosperity, one of the active 
factors today is Mr. George G. Irle, whose well managed place is in section 
16 of Somer Township. Mr. Irle began farming here over fifty-five years 
ago, and has been through practically every phase of experience as an 
Illinois farmer. He has had low prices and high prices for his crops, and 
through seasons both good and bad he has contrived to prosper and to grow 
in influence and affluence. 

Mr. Irle has lived in Champaign County since childhood, but was born 
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 31, 1852. His parents were Henry 
W. and Christina (Hohn) Irle. Both parents were born in Germany, the 
mother in Nassau. Henry W. Irle came to America in 1848, locating at 
Philadelphia, where he followed the trade of brass founder. In 1862 he 
brought his family west to Champaign County, and changing his occupation 
located on a farm in Somer Township. He became one of the substantial 
men of that district, and lived a long and useful career. His death 
occurred July 27, 1901. His wife passed away August 16, 1884. Their 
five children were: Hulda, deceased; Francesca, who died in infancy; 
George G. ; Henry H., deceased ; and Francesca, wife of Thomas B. Thorn- 
burn, of Urbana, Illinois. 

George G. Irle was ten years of age when his parents came to Cham- 
paign County. In 1859, when a boy of seven, he had an exciting experience 



856 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

and barely escaped becoming victim of a famous kidnapping case in 
Philadelphia. It all happened on Christmas Eve. On the same night 
and on the same street in the year 1876 a boy named Charlie Eoss was 
kidnapped. 

After coming to Champaign George G. Irle attended the local schools 
and lived with his father on the farm until 1880. He then went for 
himself, buying sixty acres in Somer Township. By diligence and 
efficiency his success has been a progressive one, and at different times he 
has purchased more lands until he now owns 376 acres in section 16 and 
twenty-four acres at another place in the township. He has pursued the 
plan of general farming and stock raising and is one of the men who have 
demonstrated the possibilities of successful farming on the high priced 
land of Champaign County. Mr. Irle started life with comparatively 
little, and for some years he and his wife lived in a log cabin home. 

On March 17, 1881, he married Mary F. Arnold, who was born in 
Champaign County. They have four children: Anna, wife of John H. 
Pierce, of Bloomington, Illinois; George W., of Buhl, Idaho; William H., 
of Hamer, Idaho; and Nettie, who lives at home and is in the training 
school for nurses of Burnham's Hospital. 

Mr. Irle has not neglected the interests of the community in which he 
lives, and has shown himself a public spirited citizen. He has served 
as commissioner of highways, as tax collector and for over thirty years 
was a director of his home school district. He is a republican and a 
member of the German Lutheran Church. His postoffice is Leverett. 

JAMES F. RANKIN has proved his ability both in general business affairs 
and as a banker, and is the organizer and active official of the State Bank 
of Sidney. 

Mr. Rankin was born near Deland, Illinois, October 31, 1879, a son 
of Joseph H. and Emma (Brown) Rankin. His parents were natives of 
Ohio, and his father was for a number of years a general merchant at 
Deland, but about 1902 removed to Champaign County and located in the 
city of Champaign, where he is still living. James F. is the only surviving 
child, his younger brother, Willis D., having died in infancy. 

Mr. Rankin was graduated from the public schools of Deland in 1898, 
and soon afterward entered the employ of John Kirby, a private banker. 
With that experience he assisted in organizing the State Bank of Deland, 
which he served as assistant cashier. Then, realizing the needs of further 
education, he entered the Bryant & Stratton Business College at Chicago, 
and from there in 1901 went to the National Bank of Commerce at Kansas 
City, Missouri, one of the largest banks in the Missouri Valley. He served 
as teller there two years, and with this metropolitan experience returned to 
Champaign County and for four years was draft and collection teller with 
the First National Bank of Champaign, Illinois. He then gave up banking 
and for four years was assistant superintendent of the great plant of the 
Republic Iron & Steel Company at Moline, Illinois. It was in 1911 that 
Mr. Rankin organized the State Bank of Sidney and has since given it his 
chief time and energies. 

On February 10, 1901, he married Miss Irma K. Dresback, a native of 
Deland, Illinois. They have four children : Esther B., Helen M., 
Dwight D., and Irma Catherine. Politically Mr. Rankin is a Republican 
voter. He has attained the thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Masonry 
and is present worshipful master of his lodge at Sidney. He also belongs 
to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a church man, active 
in the Methodist Society at Sidney, and is assistant superintendent of the 
Sunday school. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 857 

AMOS ELLIOTT has had his home in Champaign County fifty-four years, 
grew to manhood here, and his active life has been one of unremitting 
industry and capable management as a farmer. His home is in Ogden 
Township on Eural Route 15 out of St. Joseph. 

His birth occurred at Rushsylvania in Logan County, Ohio, January 9, 
1851. His parents were Moses and Mary (Bonner) Elliott, the former a 
native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. The Elliott family came 
to Illinois in 1860, lived in Coles County a time, but in April, 1863, while 
the Civil War was at its height, settled in Somer Township of Champaign 
County, not far from Urbana. Moses Elliott was a blacksmith by trade 
and he set up a shop and did work in Somer Township while conducting 
his farm. Amos Elliott was the oldest of seven children. He secured his 
education largely in the district school of Locust Grove. 

Until he was twenty-seven he remained at home assisting his father 
in the work and then married Miss Sarah Kirby. Mrs. Elliott was born 
at Hannibal, Missouri, daughter of William and Charlotte Kirby. Soon 
after her birth her father died and when she was two years of age she was 
left an orphan "by the death of her mother. There were four children in 
the Kirby family and after being left orphans they grew up among relatives. 
A great-aunt of the children was Lucy Clements, who lived in Illinois. 
Mrs. Clements took one of the Kirby children at the age of two years and 
some years later, when she again visited her people in Missouri, she brought 
back to her home the little orphan niece, Sarah Kirby, then nine years of 
age. Mrs. Clements and her good husband deserve more than a passing 
tribute. In the goodness of their hearts they reared not only six children 
of their own but seventeen orphan children, educating them and providing 
them homes until they were ready to take their places in the world. Some 
of these children they took when only six weeks old. An example of such 
generosity and large-heartedness is seldom found, and the world would 
be vastly better were there more such people. Mrs. Elliott and her children, 
and perhaps her children's children, will never be allowed to forget and 
pay gratitude to the names of James and Lucy Clements. Their home 
was in the southern part of Somer Township of this county. Here Sarah 
Kirby attended the Locust Grove district school. 

Mr. and Mrs. Elliott were married March 17, 1878, when she was 
twenty-four years of age. At the time of their marriage they had little 
of this world's goods and they lived on a rented farm in Stanton Township 
for a few years. They next removed to Ogden Township, again rented 
land, and out of what they made and saved they were finally able to buy 
eighty-eight acres in that township at a price of $30 an acre. The only 
improvement was some old fencing and the land abounded in sloughs and 
wet places. While to many the outlook might have been discouraging, 
Mr. and Mrs. Elliott began at once with hope and energy, and the years 
have abundantly rewarded their efforts until today they own 240 acres of 
farm land and their present home is on an eighty-acre tract adjoining their 
first purchase. Their home surroundings are now of the best. 

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Elliott were named Clara, Fred, 
Mary, Emmett, Bertha and Nellie. Mary and Nellie died in childhood. 
The other children as they grew up were educated in the Union district 
pchool. Clara Elliott is now the wife of W. H. Davis, living at Muskogee, 
Oklahoma, and they have one child, Lavon. Fred Elliott is a farmer a 
mile and a half south of Ogden and married Maggie Freeman. Emmett 
Elliott remains on his father's farm as manager and married Zella Bradley. 
Bertha Elliott is the wife of Rolla Freeman, an Ogden Township farmer, 
and they have a son, Rolland. 

Mr. and Mrs. Elliott are active members and supporters of the Pros- 



858 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

pect Christian Church, Mr. Elliott being chairman of its board of trustees. 
For twenty-one consecutive years he served as school director and for the 
benefit of his own children and those of the entire community he gave 
much time and study to every problem involved in procuring the best 
advantages of instruction. For eighteen successive years Mr. Elliott served 
as commissioner of highways. He was reared in the Eepublican party and 
has always been faithful to its principles. Six of his uncles did service for 
the country in the dark days of the Civil War, and Mr. Elliott himself 
would have followed their example had he been old enough. He is a mem- 
ber of the Masonic order, and he and his wife are members of the Court 
of Honor and two of their daughters belong to the Eastern Star. 

When the Elliott family settled in Champaign County not a rod of tile 
drainage existed anywhere. Mr. Elliott's father was one of the first to 
put in any tiling, and whether on their own land or in drainage districts, 
the Elliotts have always taken a firm stand in advocating this improvement, 
whose benefit and value can never be properly estimated. It is through 
drainage largely that Champaign County has become one of the garden 
spots of the world. Mr. Elliott as a boy recalls a time when the wet lands 
of eastern Champaign County were a haven for immense flocks of wild 
geese, crane, ducks, pigeons, and even deer and wolves roamed over the 
prairies when Mr. Elliott was a boy. 

WILLIAM HENRY TREES has lived a career that entitles him to a place 
of honor and respect among the citizens of Champaign County. For 
years he was a successful farmer and is now a local business man at Sidney. 

He was born in Champaign County February 5, 1872. He is a son 
of Ephraim and Helen (Martin) Trees. Both parents were born in Ohio. 
His father came to Champaign County in an early day and located on a 
farm near Thomasboro. That farm he cultivated and was getting to a 
position where he could be considered prosperous when he met death as 
a result of a stroke of lightning in June, 1876. He left his widow with 
a number of small children. His widow died in 1904. Eight children 
were born to them: Louisa, wife of William Arnold, of Iowa; Warren, 
living in Iowa; Belle, deceased; Marion, of Ohio; John, of Sidney Town- 
ship; George, living in Ohio; William H., and Jennie, wife of Frank 
Armstrong, of Sidney Township. 

William Henry Trees early learned to be dependent upon his own 
efforts and with only a common school education faced life on his own 
responsibilities. He made farming his independent vocation for a 
number of years, did well at it, and in January, 1917, bought a livery 
establishment at Sidney, which he now conducts. He also has one of the 
comfortable homes of that village. 

In October, 1895, Mr. Trees married Mary B. Towner, a native of 
Champaign County. They have three children: Bernice, deceased; Leal 
Gleason, at home ; and Dorothy Hilene. Politically Mr. Trees is a Eepub- 
lican. He has served his district as a member of the school board. He 
and his family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

HERMAN H. BEHRENS has been a resident of Champaign County for 
forty-four years. During all that time his home has been in section 18 
of Ogden Township. In his immediate community he has witnessed changes 
and developments that would have been regarded as impossible in such a 
short time when he was a boy. In some of the more substantial items of 
progress Mr. Behrens has borne a most influential and worthy part himself. 

Mr. Behrens is all but a native of Illinois. He was born February 31, 
1857, and six months later he was carried, an infant in arms, by his 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 859 

parents, Harm G. and Anna (Lichtsin) Behrens, accompanied by the 
ten older children, on the way to America. The Behrens family landed 
from a boat at New Orleans, came up the Mississippi Eiver and first 
located in Adams County, Illinois, not far from Quincy. They remained 
there until 1873, when they came to Champaign County, where the father 
bought forty-eight acres in section 18 of Ogden Township. For that raw 
land he paid $18 an acre. The children who were then of school age 
attended the Pleasant Valley schoolhouse in the southwest corner of that 
section. 

Herman Behrens was sixteen years old when he came to Champaign 
County, and he remained at home for ten years after that, attending 
school and assisting his father in the work of the farm. 

At the age of twenty-six he married Eliza Park. She was born in 
Illinois, daughter of John and Tina (Duis) Park. The Park family were 
also natives of Germany. Mrs. Behrens was one of a family of nine 
children. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Behrens located on his father's 
homestead in section 18 and that has been continuously their home ever 
since. Mr. Behrens has shown himself to be a progressive and industrious 
farmer, and with the aid of his good wife has materially increased his 
estate until it now comprises 334 acres. 

Into their home were born five children : John H., Anna, Tina, Harm 
and Catherine. These children were educated in the old home school of 
Pleasant Valley, where Mr. Behrens himself had received some of his 
instruction. They were also students in the German parochial school and 
were there taught the religious faith of their ancestors. 

The son Harm fitted himself for pedagogical work and as a successful 
teacher of Champaign County taught in the Morning Star School and 
also had the honor of being employed by the board of the home district, the 
Pleasant Valley. The son John H. Behrens lives on land owned by his 
father and by his marriage to Anna Buhr has two children, Herman and 
John. The daughter Anna Behrens is the wife of John Osterbur, an Ogden 
Township farmer, their six children being Lizzie, Thea, Catherine, Herman, 
Anna and Helen. Tina Behrens married Henry Osterbur, who is also iden- 
tified with the agricultural enterprise of Ogden Township. Their two 
children are named Louisa and Frank. The son Harm now lives at the 
old homestead and manages his father's farm. He married Nancy Loschen. 
Catherine Behrens is the wife of George Frenches, an Ogden Township 
farmer. Their two children are Eleanor and John. 

June 5, 1898, the death angel came to the Behrens home and took away 
the good wife and mother. Mrs. Behrens was a woman of exceptional 
Christian character and was much beloved both in her family and by a 
large circle of friends. Since his wife's death Mr. Behrens has continued 
to live at the old homestead and has been devotedly cared for by his son 
Harm and wife. 

The public spirit of Mr. Behrens has always been a strong point in his 
favor. He was elected and served twenty years as school director, nine 
years as road commissioner and eight years as drainage commissioner. 
Judge Eoth appointed him drainage commissioner. The drainage system 
of Ogden Township was greatly advanced by Mr. Behrens' work as a com- 
missioner and he is one of the men who can appreciate the value of this 
improvement. The Behrens home was surrounded by a vista of slough 
grass, prairie grass and in the summer season life was made almost unbear- 
able for human beings and animals by the presence of the green-headed 
flies and mosquitos which propagated and flourished in the undrained dis- 
trict. Thus the drainage system has not only contributed to the welfare 



860' HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

of all the people living therein but has made the land more profitable for 
cultivation and has added hundreds of thousands of dollars to the value of 
Champaign County. Mr. Behrens is one of the directors of the Farmers 
Grain Elevator at Eoyal. In politics he votes as a Republican and alto- 
gether is a man of admirable integrity of character, never makes a promise 
that he cannot fulfill, and has reared a family who do credit to him. Mr. 
Behrens is now found in a comfortable home where he spent part of his 
boyhood and enjoys the shade of many grand old trees which were set out 
by the hand of his father more than forty years ago. 

CHARLES A. DALY of Philo Township has surrounded himself with all 
the evidences of prosperity and enterprise as a farmer and stockman. 
Largely through his own efforts and enterprise he has acquired a large 
acreage of Champaign County farm land, has it under improvement, and 
for many years has been a successful raiser of good stock and gets his 
profit out of his land largely through feeding the crops at home. 

Mr. Daly has lived in Champaign County most of his life, but was born 
in Ontario, Canada, February 8, 1859. His parents, John and Mary Ann 
(McKipill) Daly, were both natives of Ireland. From Canada the family 
came to Champaign County in 1868, locating in section 1 of Crittenden 
Township. John Daly followed farming, was a man of industry and stood 
well in the community, and lived there until his death on April 5, 1885. 
His widow survived him until January 8, 1892. They reared a family 
of ten children: Sarah, widow of William Moran of Philo; Hannah, 
widow of Michael Reiter of Philo; Andrew, deceased; Elizabeth, widow 
of Joseph Donalson of Urbana; Mary and Margaret, both living at Philo; 
John and Anna, also of Philo; Ellen, deceased; and Charles A. Daly. 

Charles A. Daly finished his education in the district schools of Cham- 
paign County. Being the youngest child, he remained at home with his 
widowed mother for a year or so and in 1887 bought eighty acres in section 
36 of Philo Township. That acreage was only a beginning and he has 
steadily increased his holdings until he now owns and controls the operation 
of 280 acres in that township. 

Mr. Daly was married October 9, 1889, to Miss Susie Clennon. They 
have reared children who are a credit to the parents and there were seven 
of them : Margaret Mary, at home ; John Joseph, at home ; Ellen Loretta, 
wife of Vincent Cain ; Myrtle Frances, deceased ; Albert Vincent, at home ; 
Mary Josephine and Leo Yunon. Mr. Daly is a Democrat, a member of 
St. Thomas' Catholic Church of Philo and affiliates with the Knights of 
Columbus. He has served as road commissioner and has always endeavored 
to do his part in community affairs. 

LEVI MEAD HALL, who recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday, still 
walks with firm step and unclouded mind the streets of Homer, and during 
his long and useful life in Champaign County has witnessed almost its 
entire development and has borne a share in its progress. He still mani- 
fests a keen and intelligent interest in all that affects the welfare of his 
community and country, and is widely and favorably known as a man of 
progress and public spirit. 

He was born in Indiana, a son of Frost TJnderlin and Maria (Mead) 
Hall. The traditional account is that the founder of this branch of the 
Hall family came to America with General Braddock's army and partici- 
pated in that notable campaign which ended in western Pennsylvania on 
the march to Fort Duquesne, where Braddock was defeated and where 
the day was only partially saved by George Washington and his Virginia 
frontiersmen. This British soldier and his wife came from the vicinity 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 861 

of Edinburgh, Scotland, and they remained in this country and died in 
New York City. They left only one son, David Hall. David Hall mar- 
ried Phoebe Allen. Her father, Andrew Allen, had come from Falkirk, 
Scotland, to America before 1756. 

Frost Underlin Hall, father of Levi M., came from the East and was 
an early settler in Ohio. It is said that while he was traveling with the 
Mead family he came to the banks of the Ohio River. At that time he 
had only 25 cents in his pocket, and, pulling out this piece of money, he 
threw it into the river, saying, "I am going to begin life even." He lived 
in Butler County, Ohio, a number of years, but in 1840 moved to Indiana, 
and spent his last years at Quaker Point in Vermilion County. While in 
Ohio he had charge of a section of the old Miami Canal and lived at 
what was known as Hall's Locks. He often said that the Hall boys 
threw a wagon load of stones over the canal, aiming at birds on the other 
side. 

Mr. Levi M. Hall was three times married. On September 20, 1846, 
he married Rachel Hollingsworth. On April 3, 1855, Mary Darling 
became his wife. His present wife was Mary Frances Patterson, and they 
were married October 12, 1876. 

Levi M. Hall learned the trade of blacksmith, and in the early days he 
shod horses that drew stage coaches over the route from Covington, Indiana, 
to Johnston's Tavern. He is one of the best posted men on the old-time 
days and incidents in Champaign County. He had a large acquaintance 
with all the pioneers. 

Mr. Hall arrived at the old town of Homer October 4, 1846. All there 
was of the village at that time was located by the creek near where Homer 
Park now is. In that community he has made his home all the years 
since then, a period of over seventy years. From his good business man- 
agement he acquired a farm of over 200 acres and was for years extensively 
engaged in buying and selling farms. He made it a practice to buy up 
unimproved or rundown, places, living thereon until the land was once 
more in a state of good cultivation, and then sell out at a profit. 

Mr. Hall's children are noted as follows : Calvin Jenks Hall lives in 
Bond County, Illinois. He married Amy I. Dodd. Persis A. Bell, a 
widow, lives in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Hall's oldest son was William 
Smith Hall, who died and left two children, Nellie R. and Levi B. Mr. 
Hall has three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. 

At the ripe age of ninety he is still a well preserved man and the years 
sit lightly upon his head. He is a man of genial character, and in a 
business way his word has always been accepted as good as gold in the 
hand. 

His present wife, whose maiden name was Mary Frances Patterson, was 
born near St. Joseph, Illinois, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth M. (Ray) 
Patterson. She was educated in the district schools near St. Joseph. To 
their marriage have been born five children : Charles A., who died at the 
age of four years ; C. B. ; Ada M. ; Carl C., who died at the end of ten 
months; and Laura A. The children who grew up were educated in the 
district schools and attended the Homer High School. C. B., who also 
attended the business college at Decatur, is now in the transfer and 
storage business at Danville, Illinois. He married Lillian Pogue and has 
a son, Melvin P. Hall. Ada M. Hall is the wife of E. M. Beazeley and 
they live at Denison, Texas, where he is manager of a wholesale mercan- 
tile house. Laura A. Hall is a graduate nurse of Danville and is still 
located in that city. About eighteen years ago Mr. and Mrs. Hall left 
their farm and bought a pleasant home on West Street in Homer. Here 
they live with every comfort, and surrounded with friends and relatives 

222 



862 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

they have a most happy outlook on life and on all that awaits them in the 
future. They are active members and supporters of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. In politics he is a stalwart supporter of the Republican 
party. Mr. Hall has experienced the bitter along with the sweet of life, 
and has been called upon to lay away two wives and ten of his children. 
He and his present wife have been married now for over forty years and 
he considers it his high good fortune to have had such a capable woman 
at his side as an adviser and counselor during all these years. One of 
the most pleasant events in his life was the celebration of his ninetieth 
birthday at the home of his daughter, Mrs. E. M. Beazeley at Denison, 
Texas, on June 19, 1917. Mr. Hall has made a splendid record for him- 
self in dealing with his fellow men, and his integrity of character has 
been a contributing factor in the development of his home county. 

HENRY HUMMEL. Perhaps to no one nation does America owe more 
for the successful development of its farms than to Germany. No better 
or finer class of people ever came to this country than the German 
colonists of the '40s. On the broad prairies and in the forests of the 
West, in peace and in war, in every branch of human endeavor and human 
achievement, by brave and honest service they made compensation to the 
land of their adoption. 

One of this class of citizens long identified with Champaign County 
is Mr. Henry Hummel of Dewey. He was born near that historic place 
celebrated in song and story, Bingen on the Rhine, August 28, 1840. His 
parents were Philip and Katherine (Bloss) Hummel. He was one of a 
family of seven children, four sons and three daughters, and it is an 
indication of the virility of the family stock that all these children are 
still living, all of them in America and five residents of Champaign 
County. Philip Hummel was a native of the same locality as his son 
Henry, and gave the best endeavors of his long lifetime to farming. In 
1843, with the purpose to better his condition and secure better oppor- 
tunities for his children, he set out for the New World. He and his 
family traveled on a sailing vessel and landing in New York City pro- 
ceeded west to Kaneville in Kane County, Illinois. Like many of his 
compatriots he arrived poor in purse but rich in energy and resources of 
mind and body, and in Illinois he began work as a wage earner. He 
continued that until he was able to buy a team of horses, and in 1861 
he came with his family to Champaign County. In this county he lived 
the rest of his days, and passed away in 1906. At the time of his death 
he owned 244 acres in East Bend Township, a farm adjoining that now 
owned by his son Henry. Politically he became a Republican. He was a 
strong friend of public education, served his school district as a director, 
and he and his wife were active members of the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church at Dewey. His wife was born in the same locality of Germany 
and has been dead now for many years. Both are interred in the Beek- 
man cemetery, where monuments mark their last resting places. 

Henry Hummel was three years old when he came to the United 
States. His parents were poor, and there were few opportunities for him 
to attend school when a boy and his best training was acquired by the 
wholesome work of the home place. He largely educated himself by 
study outside of school. He continued to live with his parents until he 
was twenty-seven, and all his active years have been given to farming and 
stock raising. 

When it came time for him to make an independent start in the 
world he lacked none of the courage which had enabled his father to 
establish a home in a new and strange land. He bought eighty acres. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 863 

After paying his brothers and sisters their share he assumed an additional 
obligation of $1,200. He also bought another tract of eighty acres, where 
his beautiful country home now stands, at a cost of $3,000. Thus 
he started farming with the heavy incumbrance and handicap of a 
debt of $4,500. It was only an incentive to increased effort. With the 
aid of his good and loyal wife, and in spite of sickness, bad crops and 
interest rates frequently as high as fifteen per cent, he paid out dollar for 
dollar and after acquiring the 160 acres was still in his prime and ready 
for further efforts and extension of, his holdings. Today, in 1917, he 
owns 529 acres, all of it in East Bend Township, and there is no other 
farm in the entire township which shows a finer outfit of barns and other 
equipment nor a more beautiful country home. Not a dollar of debt 
stands against this property, which has been won by his capable efforts 
and which represents a greater value today than almost any other form 
of wealth. 

On February 10, 1879, Mr. Hummel married Miss Mary Catherine 
Hannagan. Six children, two sons and four daughters, have come into 
their home, and all of them are still living. Charles A., the oldest, is a 
resident of East Bend Township and engaged in agriculture, and in 
politics has been affiliated with the Republican party. He married Laura 
K. Nickell and they have a little son, Henry C. Both are active members 
of St. Malachi Catholic Church at Rantoul. Ellen E., the second child, 
is now the wife of Frederick Federer, a Champaign County agriculturist 
living in Rantoul Township. Both are members of the Catholic Church. 
Catherine A. was educated in the common school, has taken musical 
instruction and is still at home with her parents. She is a member of 
the St. Malachi Catholic Church at Rantoul and is active in the Rosary 
and the Altar societies. Margaret is the wife of Ernest Lorenz, a resident 
of Decatur, Illinois. Mrs. Lorenz is a Catholic and her two children are 
Charles and Mary Catherine. Aloysius is still with his parents and in 
active charge of the home estate. He was educated in the common 
schools, is a Republican and a member of the Catholic Church. Theresa 
Jane, whose- church affiliation is also with the Catholic, married William 
Quirk, who is a plumber by trade and is now employed by the City 
Waterworks of Champaign, where he and his family reside. The despot 
of the Quirk home is their little son Billie. Mr. and Mrs. Hummel have 
every reason to be proud of their children, who have shown themselves 
young people of ready attainments and resourcefulness, capable of helping 
themselves and of rendering service to others. 

Mrs. Hummel was born in Grundy County, Illinois, November 15, 
1849, a daughter of Felix and Ellen (McCormick) Hannagan. Her 
parents had eleven children, five sons and six daughters, and all of them 
but one lived to adult age. Felix Hannagan was born in County Tyrone, 
Ireland, and when fifteen years of age came with his mother to America. 
He lived first in Rhode Island, and the mother subsequently moved to 
Philadelphia and later to Grundy County, Illinois. Mr. Hannagan had 
grown up in the East, and was a married man when he came to Illinois. 
For a number of years he followed agriculture in Grundy County, but 
in 1866 removed to Champaign County and this was his home until his 
death about 1894. Politically he was a strong Republican and was an 
active member of the Catholic Church at Rantoul. His family remem- 
ber his great interest in reading, especially on historical subjects. As a 
farmer he acquired 160 acres of land in Compromise Township of Cham- 
paign County. Mrs. Hannagan was also a native of Ireland and came to 
the United States when about eighteen years old. She was a devout 
Catholic and a gentle, kind and loving mother. 



864 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mrs. Hummel was educated in the common schools and in the Cath- 
olic Academy of St. Joseph at Bloomington and for six months was a 
student in the Illinois State Normal. Before her marriage she was 
engaged in teaching and put in ten years in the school rooms of Cham- 
paign County. To her task as a homemaker and mother she brought this 
long experience as a teacher and those qualities of true motherhood and 
devotion to all of life's best interests. 

Mr. Hummel is a Republican. He has for a number of years served 
as a drainage commissioner of Champaign County and is as forceful in 
his public work as he is in his private business capacity. He is a director 
of the public schools and is a member of the German Lutheran Church at 
Dewey. His father aided in the construction of the church building 
there. Mr. and Mrs. Hummel have attained those things that are the 
best rewards of character and worthy ambition. They have a beautiful 
home, have the companionship of noble children, and have the respect and 
esteem of a large community. Their beautiful country estate bears the 
appropriate name of Forest Lawn. 

LEW E. STEVENSON. The village and community of St. Joseph have 
had no citizen whose work and interests have been more closely identified 
with the general welfare than Lew E. Stevenson. His home has been there 
for forty years, and almost continuously during that time he was in busi- 
ness in the village, but has kept in close touch with the agricultural 
development as well. He has given liberally of his thought and purpose 
to the upbuilding of local institutions, particularly the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, of which he is now the only surviving original trustee. 

Mr. Stevenson was born in Highland County, Ohio, April 21, 1850, 
by which token he is by no means an old man. His parents were Elisha 
and Nancy A. (Keelor) Stevenson, both natives of Ohio. His mother was 
born near Hillsboro, Ohio, a town notable for the fact that it was the 
birthplace of the little organization which has now expanded into an 
international instrumentality of good^ the Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union. 

On October 6, 1854, when Lew E. Stevenson was four and a half 
years of age, his father arrived in Urbana, bringing with him his wife 
and five children. Elisha Stevenson was one of the capable pioneer 
farmers of Urbana Township, and spent the rest of his days in this 
locality. He was the father of thirteen children, seven sons and six 
(laughters, all of whom reached maturity except one that died in infancy. 

Lew E. Stevenson acquired his education in the district schools of 
Champaign County, and his personal recollections of this locality go back 
nearly sixty years. On December 27, 1877, he married at Urbana Miss 
Ada 0. Coffman. She was born north of Crawfordsville in Fountain 
County, Indiana, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Noah B. Coffman. Her 
father was a native of Virginia and her mother of Ohio. Her father was 
long a prominent and notable figure in the life of Champaign County. 
Mrs. Stevenson was educated in Urbana and in the University of Illinois. 
She was one of thirteen children, all of whom were carefully educated and 
made good records for themselves. Several of Mrs. Stevenson's brothers 
went out to the state of Washington and have long been prominent in 
the city of Chehalis. Her brother N. B. Coffman, Jr., is president of the 
Chehalis Bank and has long been a prominent Republican, having served 
his party at different times as a delegate to national conventions. Another 
brother, Joseph Coffman, now deceased, was president of the telephone 
company in Chehalis. A. L. Coffman is in the real estate business there, 
and H. B. Coffman is secretary and manager of the Chehalis Furniture 
Company. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 865 

A few hours after Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson were married at Urbana 
they took the train for the village of St. Joseph. Some months before, on 
February 1, 1877, Mr. Stevenson had bought the local drug store of that 
village, and he was thus a factor in its business life before he brought his 
wife there and established a permanent home. The passing years have 
meant much to Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson not only in the matter of material 
fortune but in the good they have been able to accomplish as citizens. 
For thirty-eight years Mr. Stevenson was a familiar figure in the mercan- 
tile affairs of St. Joseph, and continued his drug business until he sold 
out, April 24, 1915. While never an active farmer, he has kept in close 
touch with the basic interests of the county by investing liberally in farm 
land, and at the present time he owns 405 acres in one body in Lawrence 
County, Illinois, not far from Vincennes, Indiana. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson had one child, a daughter named Mae Agnes 
Stevenson. She received the complete devotion and care of her parents, 
was liberally educated, first in the public schools of St. Joseph, afterward 
in high school and finished her education in the Woman's College of Jack- 
sonville, Illinois. Being musically inclined, she was granted every oppor- 
tunity to improve that talent. The daughter married Otto B. Divelbiss, a 
native of Eantoul and a son of John W. and Hattie E. (Dodge) Divelbiss. 
Mr. Divelbiss was a young man of many capabilities and had laid the 
foundation of a promising career when he was taken away by death on 
October 3, 1903. He left his wife a widow and two weeks after his death 
their only child, a daughter, was- born. This grandchild of Mr. and Mrs. 
Stevenson bears the name Maeotta Divelbiss. Mrs. Divelbiss returned to 
the home of her parents with her little, child and has continued to remain 
with them for the past fourteen years. The sunshine of the home all this 
time has been the granddaughter. She has made a good record in her 
studies and is now a member of the Champaign High School. 

Mr. Stevenson's family are active members and liberal supporters of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church at St. Joseph. When he came to the 
village in 1877 he at once began an agitation for the erection of a church. 
For years he served as chorister and in the Sunday school of the church. 
The local church society was organized April 14, 1877, and Mr. Stevenson 
was one of the first trustees chosen by the twelve charter members. These 
trustees were V. J. Gallion, W. 0. Shreve, W. B. Simms, Harrison W. 
Drillinger and Lew E. Stevenson. As noted above, Mr. Stevenson is the 
only one still living. Though the church was small at the beginning, 
the interest in its work and its membership have been growing and before 
long they had dedicated their first church building. This house of worship 
was subsequently burned and was replaced by a second, and a few years 
ago they completed the beautiful brown stone and brick church which now 
stands as a monument to the progressiveness and liberality of the church 
community and promises to continue a beacon light for the welfare of its 
worshipers for many years to come. 

In the political field Mr. Stevenson has for twenty-five years been one 
of the leading Democrats of Champaign County. He is an enthusiastic 
and dependable party worker and has done much to strengthen the local 
organization. He served as postmaster of the village of St. Joseph during 
both of President Cleveland's terms, and has also been a member of the 
town council. Fraternally he is a charter member of the local post of 
the Grand Army of the Republic. His membership in the Grand Army 
is not honorary, as one might infer from the fact that he was born in 1850. 
Mr. Stevenson is in fact one of the youngest veterans of the great War of 
the Rebellion. That war began when he was eleven years of age, and he 
was only fourteen when it entered upon its final stage in 1864. He real- 



866 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ized that he was too young, strictly speaking, to get accepted into the 
ranks of the Union army, but his loyalty and patriotism were of such 
determined character that he was willing to sacrifice the truth somewhat 
and gave his age as sixteen. He enlisted in the spring of 1864 and was 
mustered in at Mattoon, Illinois, into Company A of the One Hundred 
and Thirty-fifth Illinois Infantry. Thus he had his ardent wish and 
marched away with the hoys in blue to do whatever duty was required. 
His regiment was at first stationed in southern Missouri doing railway 
guard duty around Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain. When the war was 
over he was mustered out and given an honorable discharge at Mattoon. 

Mr. Stevenson has been identified with most of the fraternal organiza- 
tions in St. Joseph, having been a charter member of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, the Masonic lodge and the Woodmen order. He 
is also a charter member of the local chapter of the Eastern Star, and 
both his wife and daughter are also members. In Masonry he is affiliated 
with the Mystic Shrine. For forty years Mr. Stevenson has had the 
inestimable good fortune of having a wife of charming personality and 
culture to stand by his side and help forward their home, their power 
of doing good in the community, and they have well earned the right to 
enjoy the coming years in leisure and comfort in their pleasant home at 
St. Joseph. 

ISAAC T. LEAS. It is by no means an empty distinction to have lived 
actively and usefully in any community . for a period of over sixty years. 
At this writing Isaac T. Leas is in his eighty-third year and is one of the 
few men who knew Champaign County before the time of the Civil War. 
He has been both a witness and an actor in the changing developments of 
a long time and is a real pioneer. He has been successful in his work and 
business and is still a hale and hearty man, enjoying the highest esteem of 
a large community. 

Mr. Leas was born near Covington, Indiana, October 27, 1833, a son of 
George and Lydia (Robinson) Leas. The ancestors of the Leas family 
came from England and were colonial settlers in Pennsylvania. George 
Leas had ten children, eight sons and two daughters, Isaac being the third 
in age. 

The latter spent his boyhood days and youth in his native county and 
when a young man came to Champaign County with his father. His 
father entered 160 acres of land and the son also secured a tract of land 
in section 9 of St. Joseph Township. 

In October, 1860, Mr. Leas laid the foundation of his own home by 
his marriage to Miss Ervilla Sumner. Mrs. Leas was also born near 
Covington, Indiana, a daughter of Selby and Rebecca (Hatheway) Sum- 
ner. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Leas settled down to begin 
wedded life on land which he bought, and with hope for the future, 
enthusiam and unlimited energy their prospects all partook of a rosy hue. 
Mr. Leas had many trials and privations in early years. His first land 
he bought in Champaign County cost him two dollars and a half an acre, 
and gradually his accumulations grew until he was paying taxes on 640 
acres, a complete section. 

Mr. Leas' brother William was a brave soldier in the Civil War, having 
spent more than three years in the army. As that was a long time to be 
away from home and friends an arrangement was made between him and 
Isaac that they would exchange places for a brief time to afford William 
an opportunity to visit home and friends. It was a risky thing to do, 
and had the exchange been discovered William would have been liable for 
arrest as a deserter. Isaac went to Louisville, changed clothes with his 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 867 

brother, took his brother's place in the ranks and every morning answered 
to the roll call under his brother's name. Thus he too had a share of the 
service required for winning the war, though his name does not appear on 
the records of the great armies of the North. 

During the passing years Mr. Leas gave the best of his energies to the 
improvement and development of his farm, erected many commodious 
buildings, planted fruit and shade tiees, and the entire estate stands as 
an attractive monument to his industry. 

Into their home were born nine children : Emma, Jennie, Clara, 
Gertrude, Sadie, Ernest, Ross, Nettie and Frank, the last three dying in 
childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Leas saw to it that their children were well 
educated, at first in the Argo district school and later some of them 
attended the fine old college in Sullivan County, Indiana, on the banks of 
the Wabash, known as Merom College, and also the University of Illinois. 
Gertrude graduated from the Indiana school. These children have since 
married and have become substantially located in the world of affairs. 
Emma is the wife of Christian Furst, a farmer at Muucie, Indiana, and 
she has four children, Ervilla, Oral, Russell and Stanley, the last being 
now deceased. The daughter Jennie married Charles Mallow and they 
live in Ohio and have children named Leroy, Guy, Orr and two daughters 
deceased. Clara L. married William Beverlin and lives in Urbana, the 
mother of Gladys and Mayme. Gladys is now Mrs. E. L. Coolidge of 
Fort Wayne, Indiana. Mayme was graduated from the Urbana High 
School in 1911, and then entered upon a course of instruction in the 
University of Illinois, but was prevented from finishing it by the sudden 
death of her mother on January 24, 1912. W. N. Beverlin, her father, 
was born near St. Joseph, Illinois, and finished his education in Earlham 
College in Indiana. He was a son of T. J. and Elizabeth (Stevenson) 
Beverlin. T. J. Beverlin was born near Centerville, Indiana, and was a 
soldier in the Union army during the Civil War. His wife was born 
near Ridge Farm, Illinois. Gertrude L. Leas is the wife of Dr. L. C. 
Phillips, a graduate of Merom College in Indiana, and they now live in 
Pensacola, Florida, and have seven children named Ian, Kent, Portia, 
Leeta, Mayme, Willis and Lawren. The daughter Sadie L. Leas married 
Edwin Keller, an insurance man of Frankfort, Indiana, and they have 
one child, Emerson Leas Keller. Ernest Orr Leas lives in Fountain 
County, Indiana, and married Miss Temperance Hayworth. 

Mr. Isaac Leas, as is also true of his wife, has been a lifelong member 
of the Christian Church and for many years worshiped in the Prairie 
Hope Church, to which he was a liberal supporter. Mr. Leas had an 
important part in the building of this venerable religious structure. From 
his father's farm he hauled many logs to a mill in Indiana, and then 
hauled the finished lumber back to the site of the church building. The 
seats in the church contain a great quantity of choice walnut timber, a 
very rare wood at the present time. The weatherboarding on the church 
was sawed from fine poplar logs. This church is a splendid monument to 
the zeal and religious spirit of the pioneers who erected the structure and 
the church itself has stood as a beacon light in the community. 

The influence of the Leas family has always been for good and uplift- 
ing work in that part of the county. Mr. Leas has courageously supported 
and upheld the principles of the Republican party, and has been firmly 
convinced that the best laws our nation has ever had emanated from that 
source. He is a great admirer of Roosevelt and looks upon him as one of 
the strongest men America has produced. 

The crowning sorrow of the Leas family was the death in March, 1915, 
of Mrs. Leas, who for years had stood side by side with her husband in 



868 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

the work of establishing a home and had been mother and adviser to her 
children. For twelve years before she died Mr. and Mrs. Leas had lived 
in the city of Urbana, where they kept up their associations with old friends 
from St. Joseph Township and also found many new friends in the city. 
When the name of Mr. and Mrs. Leas is mentioned in St. Joseph Town- 
ship there are many who are eager to speak of the many deeds of kindness 
performed by them, and there still live in that section a number of families 
who were aided in their early struggles and eventually came to some 
considerable measure of success largely through help extended in time of 
need by Mr. and Mrs. Leas. Notably among these is the family of John 
Fiock, who enjoys relating his early experience in St. Joseph Township. 
Landing in St. Joseph with a wife and five children and a cash capital of 
35 cents, a stranger to everybody, hunting for work, he was referred to 
Isaac Leas, who went his security for furniture and provisions and 
employed him for two years, at the end of which time he was able to 
purchase forty acres, making a payment of $60, the agent requiring him 
to sign an agreement that he was to forfeit the same if he could not 
pay $40 more within six months, said time to expire at 2 P. M. Being 
unable to raise the amount, he went to Isaac Leas at 11 A. M. of said 
day, telling him his troubles. Mr. Leas was busily engaged with farm 
hands building fence, but like the Good Samaritan of olden days, immedi- 
ately stopped his work, had his team hitched up and drove with Mr. Fiock 
to Urbana in time to draw the money from the bank and secure the home 
to Mr. Fiock, who returned home with a glad heart to announce to his 
family their little home was safe. Some people strew their flowers to 
the memory of their friends after the weary heart and hands are stilled, but 
Isaac Leas has chosen to modestly and quietly strew his flowers along the 
pathway of a needful humanity, while the heart may be made to rejoice 
at their reception, the fragrance and beauty surviving as long as memory 
lasts. It is these worthy acts that causes one's memory to be enshrined 
within the hearts of the recipients of the same generous deeds. 

Since the death of his good wife Mr. Leas has continued his home in 
Urbana, but usually spends his winters in Florida with friends and rela- 
tives. On some of his journeys his granddaughter Mayme Beverlin has 
been with him as traveling companion. Together they made a most 
enjoyable tour to the Pacific coast in 1915, visiting the exposition at San 
Francisco and also the fair at San Diego. They were impressed with 
the wonderful mountain scenery between Colorado Springs and Salt Lake 
City, went from Los Angeles to Catalina Island, where they viewed the 
wonders of the deep through the glass bottomed boat, also crossed the 
border to the quaint Mexican village of Tia Juana, and then returned by 
the southern route, first pausing at El Paso, Texas, and again crossing the 
border into Juarez. They also remained in New Orleans a few days and 
from there came back to Illinois. 

Mr. Isaac Leas has always been a stanch friend of the cause of temper- 
ance. Temperance has not been merely a theory with him but a practice 
from youth to old age. He has never used either tobacco or liquor, and 
his life and character in its essential attributes has been consistent with 
these moral principles. In the matter of commercial integrity there is 
no question that the word of Isaac Leas is as good as a gold bond. In his 
business relations he has always been careful, and an incident testifying 
to his discretion is related. An agent was recently trying to sell him a 
$3,000 automobile, saying to him, "You might as well buy it and enjoy 
it, you cannot take your money along with you into the next world." To 
which Mr. Leas replied, "I think I might take it along as well as I could 
an automobile." 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 869 

REV. ANDREW SCOTT. The qualities of real manhood and the power 
of leadership were never in greater demand in church work than today. 
The clergy have always been men of education and of fine moral standing, 
and with these qualities the successful pastor must now combine the 
spiritual enthusiasm and some of the same enterprise and energy which 
are such vital assets in the business world. A better type of this modern 
minister Champaign County does not have than in the case of Rev. Mr. 
Scott, pastor of the Christian Church at Fisher. Mr. Scott is a man of 
letters, has had the benefit of extensive travel, is a fluent and logical 
speaker, and in the course of his active career has shown unusual capacity 
as an organizer, administrator and a real church builder. 

Some of these qualities he undoubtedly inherited from the land of 
his birth. He is a Scotchman by nativity, and was born at Melrose in 
Roxborough. His birth occurred February 13, 1857. He was the third 
in a family of six children, three sons and three daughters. All these 
children are living and all in Canada except Mr. Scott. His parents 
were Adam and Agnes (Gilroy) Scott. His father, who was born in 
the same locality as the son, was a Scotch teacher, an occupation also 
followed by the grandfather of Rev. Mr. Scott. In 1863 he determined 
to bring his family to the broader and more generous opportunities of 
the New World. The intention was to locate in the United States, but 
the war then raging between the North and the South caused a change 
of plans and he took his family to Canada and located near London, 
Ontario. An uncle had previously established a home in that community. 
After three years Adam Scott moved to Huron County, Ontario, bought a 
farm and followed agriculture the rest of his days. His death occurred 
on the old homestead at the age of eighty-nine. His wife was also born 
in Scotland and had a common school education. She died in Canada 
at the age of fifty, and both are now at rest in Sunshine Cemetery at 
Sunshine, Ontario. 

Andrew Scott was about seven years years of age when his parents 
came to Canada. He had attended school in Scotland, and afterward had 
the benefit of the splendid public school system of Canada. One of his 
teachers to whom he has always paid homage was John T. Wood, who 
had the unusual record of teaching in one school for twenty-eight years. 
About 1877 Mr. Scott came to the United States and entered that well 
known Ohio institution of learning, Hiram College, of which James A. 
Garfield was at one time president. Mr. Scott has always had a high 
admiration for the "towpath boy" President. For three years he pursued 
the literary course in Hiram, at the end of which time he received a call 
from the Ontario Mission Board to take charge of a mission at Portage la 
Prairie, then far out in the western wilds, beyond the terminus of all 
railroad lines, in what is now the province of Manitoba. This mission 
was one of the outposts of the Christian Church. Mr. Scott went into the 
far west in 1881, about the time President Garfield was assassinated. 
Portage la Prairie is now a flourishing city sixty miles west of Winnipeg. 
Mr. Scott had a frontier missionary experience two years. The mission 
was composed of seven members when he took charge, and he held his 
first religious service in a private house and afterward in a small public 
hall. In less than a year he had bought ground and had erected a church 
at a cost of $4,000. At the end of his two years' missionary work the 
membership had increased to seventy-five. Some of those first members 
of the missionary church are still connected with the flourishing congre- 
gation as officials and members, and now Portage la Prairie has a hand- 
some church building costing $25,000. 

In the fall of 1883 Rev. Mr. Scott returned to Walkertown, Bruce 



870 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

County, Ontario, and assumed a regular pastorate, which he held four 
years. There he had a church of about 150 members, and it was a pros- 
perous and contented congregation. While acting as regular pastor there 
he was also connected with evangelistic work in the province of Ontario. 
In 1887 Mr. Scott went to Niagara Falls, where he gave all his time to 
his pastoral duties for three years. 

He next received a call from Sterling, Illinois, and was located there 
two years. In 1895 he took charge of the church in Saginaw, Michigan. 
In all communities where he had his work he proved a vitalizer of church 
effort and activity, and the results of his work were not far to seek. The 
congregation at Saginaw when he took charge was worshiping in a small 
and inadequate building, and while he was there he erected a fine edifice 
costing $12,000. On the first -church there was a mortgage, and he not 
only paid this off but gave the community an edifice of which they might 
be proud. For five years he remained at Saginaw, and besides his regu- 
lar pastoral duties he spent every Sunday afternoon at a neighboring 
church. From Saginaw Eev. Mr. Scott was called to Butler, Bates 
County, Missouri, where he remained two years. He followed this with 
a pastorate at Pontiac, Illinois. He found there a mission, and was 
able to pay off another mortgage. About that time, his daughter desiring 
to enter the State Normal University, Mr. Scott took charge of a church 
there for two years. His following charge was at Danville, Illinois, 
where he again acted as a "mortgage burner," and gave the congregation 
new life and inspiration for larger work. During the last three years 
of his Danville pastorate he was district superintendent of the sixth dis- 
trict, and had active charge of the placing of ministers and the general 
upbuilding of church affairs throughout the district. Altogether he 
remained at Danville seven years, and this long pastorate is of itself a 
highly significant testimony to Mr. Scott's efficiency and ability. 

From Danville he removed to Hoopeston, Illinois. He went there 
following an investigation which showed the affairs of the parish in such 
condition that his personal attention was required. The people at Hoopes- 
ton had been worshiping in a church edifice for sixteen years, and it was 
still burdened with a $6,000 mortgage. The resourcefulness of Mr. Scott 
in lifting mortgages did not fail in this crisis, and the second year he was 
there he paid off the mortgage and brought zeal and renewed courage to 
a thoroughly disheartened people. 

In November, 1914, Mr. Scott assumed the pastorate of the Christian 
Church at Fisher, Illinois. The usual success has attended his efforts in 
this locality. Under his energetic leadership the people have imdertaken 
the building of a modern church edifice which will be dedicated in the 
fall of 1917. The church, with the grounds, when completed will repre- 
sent a cost of about $20,000. Of this amount the sum of about $17,000 
in cash or collateral has been raised by Mr. Scott. For many years Mr. 
Scott has been chairman of the committee on ministerial standing. 

In 1882 he married Miss Sophia Stait. Three children, two sons and 
one daughter, were born to their marriage and all are living. Errettine 
was educated in public schools in the various localities where her father 
lived, and after graduating from the State Normal University of Illinois 
she taught seven years in the Danville schools. She was especially success- 
ful in primary work. Besides her literary education she has taken musical 
instruction. She is now the wife of Elmer Barnes, who is manager of 
the Bank of Cheneyville, Illinois. Paul A. Scott, the older son, is a 
merchant now living at Waterloo, Iowa, and at present connected with 
the May Tag Company of Newton, Iowa. He is a very energetic young 
man. He had a common school education and also attended the high 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 871 

school at Normal, Illinois. The maiden name of his wife was Sidney 
Smith, who was well educated and taught school at Danville, Illinois. 
They have two sons, Charles and John Andrew. Walter, the youngest of 
the children, is a talented musician, especially as a singer, with a voice of 
fine tone and compass, and has taken considerable part in evangelistic 
work. He is now an employe of the postoffice. He married Miss Lei a 
Myers, and they have a daughter, Virginia Errettine. 

Mrs. Scott was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1863, and was well 
educated in Canada. Her father was a native of England and came to 
Canada when a young man, marrying in the Dominion. He was an 
agriculturist, and died in Canada at the age of ninety. Mrs. Scott's 
mother was also a native of England, and is now living at Montclare, a 
Chicago suburb, at the age of eighty-five. 

Ever since their marriage Mrs. Scott has been thoroughly in sympathy 
with her husband's aims and work, and has done much to give him prac- 
tical aid in his successful endeavors in addition to caring t for her home 
and looking after the training of her children. Eev. Mr. Scott has for 
a number of years been one of the leaders in the temperance movement. 
He is a very effective speaker, and is not only eloquent but has that poise 
and dignity which command the confidence of an audience. He has been 
heard on questions of public and current interest as well as on religious 
texts and has appeared in pulpits and lecture platforms in such cities as 
New York, Buffalo, Indianapolis and Cleveland. Eev. Mr. Scott has a 
thoroughly used and well read library of standard literature, comprising 
at least 500 volumes. He and his wife have a very comfortable home at 
Fisher, and a home that is a manifest of the culture and refinement of 
its inmates. In 1911 Mr. Scott and his daughter made a tour of about 
three months through his native land of Scotland, and also through 
England and France, and visited many of the places of historic interest. 
While abroad he preached in Edinburgh and London. For years he has 
been a regular contributor to the church papers. He now edits what is 
known as the Fisher Christian, which has a local distribution of about 
200 copies and is a valuable medium for the dissemination of religious 
influences. 

GEORGE W. HILL. As the nation grows older more and more honor is 
paid the men who offered their lives as sacrifice to the preservation of the 
Union in the dark days of the '60s. One of these veterans still living in 
Champaign County is George W. Hill, whose life since the war has been 
one of peaceful industry as a farmer and he is now enjoying a well earned 
retirement at his home in the village of St. Joseph. 

He was born at Paola, Orange County, Indiana, February 22, 1840. 
It will be noted that his birth occurred on Washington's birthday and he 
was given the name of the father of his country. His parents, Erasmus 
and Huldah (Fawcett) Hill, were both natives of North Carolina and 
were early settlers in Indiana. George W. Hill received his education in 
a subscription school known as the Prospect School, kept in an old log 
schoolhouse. He grew up in Indiana, and was twenty-one years of age 
when the war broke out and he volunteered his services, enlisting in Com- 
pany B of the Twenty-fourth Indiana Infantry. He enlisted at Orleans, 
Indiana, went South to St. Louis, up the river to Jefferson City, on to 
Sedalia, and from there to Springfield in the southern part of the state, 
returned to Sedalia and at St. Louis again took boat and went down the 
Mississippi to Cairo, Illinois, and from there proceeded up the Tennessee 
to Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, while Grant was waging his tremen- 
dous campaign around those outposts of the Confederacy. The record of 



872 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

his service introduces many of the most notable battles and landmarks of 
the Civil War. After the fall of Fort Donelson he went to Pittsburg 
Landing, then to Corinth, to Memphis, crossed the river and participated 
at Ball's Bluff, a campaign in which his regiment did a great deal of 
skirmishing, and was also in that victorious engagement for the Union 
arms at Grand Prairie, Arkansas. Another river journey took them to 
Helena, Arkansas, where Mr. Hill and his comrades were encamped when 
the news of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was received. The next 
movement was down the Mississippi to the campaign around Vicksburg. 
He and his comrades marched around Vicksburg to Grand Gulf and 
fought at Port Gibson, later at Campian Hills in the rear of Vicksburg, 
and then followed the real siege of the Mississippi stronghold. He was also 
at Jackson and in the ten days of continuous fighting around Vicksburg. 
After the fall of that city his regiment was sent down by river transport 
to Baton Eouge, Louisiana, on to New Orleans, and participated in the 
Eed River expedition. On returning to Algiers, Louisiana, Mr. Hill 
re-enlisted for three years or the war. He spent thirty days' furlough at 
home and again started South to Evansville, Indiana, where he took boat 
for New Orlean and then crossed the Gulf to Pensacola, Florida. He was 
in the noted engagement at Fort Blakely, one of the posts guarding the 
city of Mobile, and did considerable duty until that last southern strong- 
hold was vanquished. The troops then went up to Selma, Alabama, from 
there to New Orleans, and again crossed the Gulf to Galveston, Texas, 
where Mr. Hill was mustered out. Thus he gave four years of service of 
almost continuous fighting and marching during the war. Though in 
almost constant danger he sustained only two slight wounds, one in the 
hand and one in the ankle. His two brothers were killed in the war, 
Alonzo at the siege of Vicksburg and Eli at the battle of Lexington. 

On April 13, 1879, on Easter Sunday, Mr. Hill married Miss Sarah E. 
Butts. She was born at Winchester, Indiana, in 1857, a daughter of 
Oscar and Catherine C. Butts. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hill 
rented a farm at Homer in Champaign County and they continued the 
active life of farmers for many years. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hill have one son, Oscar A. Hill. He is a young man 
of more than ordinary attainments and abilities. He graduated from 
the high school at St. Joseph, was given a diploma as a teacher, and spent 
several years in that work. His first school was the Beverlin School and 
later he taught the Wilson School and Zion School. For a number of 
years he was also in the employ of Charles Dale, editor of the St. Joseph 
Record. From an early age he has been interested in electricity and he 
helped install the electric light and telephone systems at St. Joseph. He 
afterwards went to Florida, where he did electrical work, and also edited 
a newspaper known as the Lake Wales News. He is now connected with 
an electrical company at Akron, Ohio. Among other talents he is a noted 
musician, and while living in Champaign County took instruction from 
Professor White of Champaign. He is known as a composer of several 
popular melodies, two of the latest being "The Blue and the Gray" and 
"Stand by the Stars and Stripes Forever." Another song which gained 
much popular favor is entitled, "Is This the Road to Heaven ?" Thus his 
life has been filled with interesting activities. He distinguished himself 
as a teacher, being an excellent disciplinarian as well as a thorough 
instructor. As a musician his services were much in demand as a choir 
leader. At the dedication of the fine Christian Church at St. Joseph he 
led the choir of sixty trained voices. In token of appreciation of his 
services in this way the church made him a present of a fine ring. While 
living in Florida he married Catherine Hickman. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 873 

Mr. and Mrs. Hill are active members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at St. Joseph, and in politics he is a Republican, though a man 
of broad views, and supports the principles rather than the party. He is 
identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, and Mrs. Hill is a 
member of the Royal Neighbors. 

PATRICK HENRY CAIN. For many years one of the highly respected 
and substantial citizens of Philo Township, Mr. Cain has been chiefly 
identified with farming, and has not only provided well for his family but 
is regarded as one of the men of influence of his community. 

Though a resident of Champaign County since childhood, Mr. Cain 
was born at Peru in LaSalle County, Illinois, in 1865. His parents, 
Thomas and Bridget (Finn) Cain, were both natives of Ireland. In 
1878 the family removed to Champaign County and located on a farm in 
Colfax Township. The . parents both died on that old farm. Their 
family of children consisted of six: Austin, deceased; James T. and 
Thomas, of Colfax Township; Mary Ann, wife of John Giblin of Colfax 
Township; Patrick H.; and Sarah, wife of Lawrence Gallagher, of Colfax 
Township. 

In the schools of Illinois Patrick H. Cain acquired a substantial 
training during his youth and he lived at home until the death of his 
parents. His best work has been accomplished on the 160 acres of land 
which he bought in 1903, located in sections 15 and 21 of Philo Town- 
ship. Under his energetic direction this farm has been brought to a 
highly improved condition and has responded bountifully to his efforts 
as an agriculturist. 

On February 4, 1891, Mr. Cain took upon himself the responsibilities 
of a family by his marriage to Anna Coady. Eight children have come 
into their home, and those that grew up have shown the characteristics 
of energy and ambition which are distinctive of their parents. Mary 
Gertrude, the oldest, is now deceased. Estella is still at home. Henry 
is deceased. Grace is now a Catholic sister in Springfield. The younger 
children, all at home, are Leo, Anna, Kathleen and Thomas Mathew. 
Mr. Cain is a Democrat in politics, is a member of the Knights of Colum- 
bus and he and his family worship in the Catholic Church at Philo. 

FRED ROY PARRETT. Such capable citizens as Fred Roy Parrett are 
the men who are now bearing the brunt of the agricultural activities in 
Champaign County. He is a general farmer and stockman in Mahomet 
Township, and has one of the best improved places in that community. 
Mr. Parrett is one of the younger generation of Champaign County's native 
sons, and his name is one that is spoken with honor and respect due to the 
achievements and the character of those who have borne it in this section 
of the state. 

He was born in Champaign County and in the house where he still 
lives on January 18, 1890, the only child of George C. and Susan Mary 
(Thomas) Parrett. His father, who was born in Ross County, Ohio, 
June 6, 1849, was brought to Illinois at the age of two years. His parents 
made this journey in pioneer style, with wagons and teams, crossing the 
intervening country and locating on rented land in Piatt County. They 
afterwards moved to Champaign County, where George C. Parrett was 
reared. He was well educated, having, in addition to the common schools, 
the advantages of a course in Oberlin College. After completing his edu- 
cation he farmed as a renter three years, and then bought eighty acres, 
going in debt in order to secure a home. He and his wife were married 
April 23, 1878, and together they worked loyally side by side until their 



874 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

debts were paid and they were financially well to do. Most of the perma- 
nent improvements on the farm were made by George C. Parrett. He was 
a Prohibitionist, and advocated the temperance cause long before it became 
as popular as it is today. He was also identified with the Baptist Church, 
for twenty-five years served as deacon, was interested in the .Sunday school 
and for years was superintendent. The death of this good man occurred 
November 18, 1916, and an appropriate stone marks his resting place in 
the Blue Ridge Cemetery. 

Mr. Fred Parrett's mother was born in Champaign County, October 19, 
1857, and is a daughter of the Mexican veteran, James Quincy Thomas, 
whose long and interesting career is the subject of an article on other 
pages. She is still living, at the home of her son, and has spent all her 
life in Champaign County, where she received her education in the common 
schools. She is a member of the Baptist Church. 

Fred Roy Parrett grew up on the old homestead, attended the common 
schools, and early made choice of a career as an agriculturist, the returns 
from which have been highly satisfying in every particular. 

His farm comprises 160 acres in Mahomet Township and he is also 
managing a farm of 160 acres belonging to his grandfather, Thomas. The 
soil is well adapted to the cultivation of crops of corn and oats, and he 
raises some good grades of horses and hogs. The Parrett home bears the 
appropriate name of High View Lodge. It is a home reflecting good 
management and is also the abode of hospitality and comfort. 

Mr. Parrett devoted himself to the duties of home and looking after 
his parents, and for five years had active charge of his grandfather's estate. 
About the time he married he returned to the Parrett farm. February 22, 
1911, he married Miss Mary Margaret Anderson. They are the happy 
parents of three sturdy young boys. Maurice Anderson was born July 24, 
1912; Mervin Thomas was born October 31, 1913; and Frederick Harold 
was born October 21, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Parrett find one of the chief 
incentives to their labors and efforts in their plans for the appropriate 
education and training of these sons. 

Mrs. Parrett was born in Champaign County, August 3, 1892, a 
daughter of John C. and Emily May (Samuelson) Anderson. There were 
seven children in the family, four sons and three daughters. Mrs. Parrett 
was educated in the public schools, and while her life has been a busy 
one, taken up with practical affairs at home, she has cultivated every oppor- 
tunity to improve her mind by association with the best of literature and 
social life. She is an active member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Parrett 
is a Democrat and cast his first presidential vote for Woodrow Wilson. 
He also is a member of the Baptist Church at Mahomet. They have 
begun life well, and have the best things still in prospect for achievement 
and enjoyment. 

MARTIN JOSEPH CLENNON. That farming can be conducted as a suc- 
cessful business in the same class as a store or factory needs no other 
proof than a visit to the place under the management of Martin Joseph 
Clennon in section 33 of Philo Township. He has a large acreage under 
cultivation, a group of well arranged, substantially built structures for his 
home and bar.ns, and on every hand are evidences of good management 
and efficiency. 

Mr. Clennon is one of the younger farmers of Champaign County. He 
was born in Crittenden Township of this county December 12, 1880, a 
son of William F. and Adelia (Moran) Clennon. His father was born 
in Grundy County, Illinois, and his mother in Canada. It was in 1877 
that the parents removed to Champaign County and located on a farm 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 875 

in Crittenden Township, where the widowed mother still lives. The 
father died here May 16, 1906. They were the parents of a large family 
of nine children : Mary Agnes, still at home ; Martin J. ; Francis W., of 
Crittenden Township; Sadie, wife of Frank H. Cain, of Philo Township; 
Agnes, at home; Catherine, wife of Lawrence Flynn, of Philo Township; 
Lauretta; Lawrence, in Battery F, 149th Illinois Volunteers; and Ray- 
mond J., at home. 

Martin J. Clennon attended the district schools in his early youth and 
also had a course in a business college at Decatur. He wisely made 
choice of agriculture as his vocation and has heen steadily improving his 
opportunities granted by experience and is now capably managing one of 
the fine farms of Philo Township, containing 236 acres. 

On September 4, 1907, he married Catherine Tyrrell, a native of 
Livingston County, Illinois. They have three young children, named 
Howard Ambrose, Mary Edith and Lois Adelia. In politics Mr. Clennon 
is a Democrat. He and his family are members of St. Thomas Catholic 
Church at Philo, and he is a member of the Knights of Columbus. His 
country home is supplied with the daily mail from rural route No. 1 out 
of Tolono. 

JAMES W. HARPER, who is now living retired in a beautiful semi- 
coimtry home at the village of Ogden, has been a factor in this section 
of Champaign County for many years. His associates speak of Mr. Harper 
as a man, meaning thereby not only his physical strength, but strength 
of determination, of purposeful conduct, and of notable public spirit dis- 
played in his efforts to advance wherever possible the welfare of the 
community. 

Mr. Harper was born at Dana in Vermilion County, Indiana, August 
23, 1865, a son of John and Amanda (Dikes) Harper. Both parents 
were born at Rockville in the same Indiana county. The Dikes family 
came originally from Kentucky. John Harper and wife had five chil- 
dren, one son and four daughters. About fifty-two years ago the family 
moved to Vermilion County, Illinois, locating at Pilot Grove, and still 
later in Champaign County, settling in Ogden Township. 

John Harper was one of the most successful men of Champaign County 
and much of his ability was inherited by his only son, James. He was 
quick, intelligent and industrious, and had the faculty of using his means 
for redoubled profit and advantage. At the time of his death he owned 
an estate of 800 acres. 

The Harper children all attended the district school known as the 
Hope School. James W. Harper was educated there, and as he grew up 
he learned farming from his father and emulated his skill and competence 
as a business manager. 

On October 1, 1890, Mr. Harper married Miss Mary E. Canady. She 
was born in Ogden Township, daughter of Asbury and Drusilla (Divan) 
Canady. The- Canadys were prominent pioneers of Champaign County. 
Drusilla Divan had three brothers who offered themselves to the country 
for the purpose of preserving the Union during the Civil War. Their 
mother, Ellen Divan, was at the time a widow and sorely needed her sons 
at home, but she courageously gave them up for the benefit of the country 
and deserves every credit for keeping up the home during their absence. 

John Harper's parents were Elijah and Hannah Harper, who were 
among the pioneer settlers of Indiana and spent all their lives there. 

Mr. and Mrs. James W. Harper after their marriage spent one year at 
Hope, where Mr. Harper rented his father's farm. They then removed 
three miles north of the village of Ogden to 160 acres, which had been 



876 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

given Mrs. Harper by her father. Her father gave a similar amount to 
all his children. Here Mr. and Mrs. Harper made their permanent home 
for many years, and carried forward their plans for improvement and 
home making. They erected a comfortable house and barns, and set out 
many trees, both shade and fruit. Mr. Harper has the distinction of 
giving Champaign County its largest grove of catalpa trees. He set out 
2,500 of them, cultivated them and cared for them, and today it is the 
finest catalpa grove in the entire county. They serve a double purpose, 
being not only an attractive feature of the landscape but furnishing a 
splendid windbreak for the farm. 

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Harper were born three sons: 
Arlie C., who died at the age of eight months; Chester C. and Merle. 
The latter two were educated in the district school known as Prospect 
School, while Chester subsequently graduated from both the St. Joseph 
and Urbana High schools, and completed his education in the University 
of Illinois. On May 12, 1917, he married Miss Mabel Hubbard of Ver- 
milion County, Illinois. Two days after his marriage he went to Jefferson 
Barracks, Missouri, having volunteered his services as a soldier in the 
American National Army. There after a brief period of training he 
was released and returned home. The youngest son, Merle, is still a 
student in the public schools of Ogden. 

In 1915 Mr. and Mrs. Harper decided to relieve themselves of the duties 
and responsibilities of their farm and coming to Ogden bought a beautiful 
modern home at the edge of town. They have nine acres of ground sur- 
rounding their home and that affords them every opportunity to indulge 
the pursuits of gardening on a small and intensive scale and at the same 
time they have the nearby advantages of the town. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harper began with the 160 acres which she inherited, 
but their achievements in a business way brought them great increase to 
this talent, and Mr. Harper added 320 acres more. At the present time 
he owns 525 acres of as fine land as can be found anywhere, one of his 
farms being in the state of Indiana. 

All this time he has manifested a commendable public spirit and has 
filled the offices of school director and school trustee and has worked for 
the advantage of everything that concerns his community. He and his 
wife are active members of the Prospsct Christian Church, and in politics 
he is a Eepublican. He has always voted the Eepublican ticket and has 
found that party the most capable of satisfying his views on public ques- 
tions. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias. 

ELIJAH J. ANDERS is both a successful fanner and an active business 
man at Sidney. He has always lived in close touch with the soil and 
with agricultural conditions, and that experience has been invaluable to 
him as a grain merchant. 

Mr. Anders has spent nearly all his life in Champaign County but was 
born at Canal Winchester, Ohio, May 19, 1875. His parents, John and 
Mary (Krumm) Anders, were both born in Germany. His father was 
brought to America by his parents when about two years of age, the family 
locating in Ohio. He grew up there, took up farming and in 1878 came 
to Champaign County, locating in Philo Township. He and his wife 
are still living at Sidney. They had a large family of children, named 
briefly as follows: William, of Sidney; Elijah and Etta, twins, the latter 
the wife of Charles Shiprps of Fairmount, Illinois: Emma, wife of S. T. 
Mosier, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Henry, of New Berlin, Illinois; Minnie, 
wife of Arthur Cole, of Block, Illinois ; Mary, wife of Charles Thompson, 
of Urbana ; Mrs. Archie J. Hall, of Sidney ; and John, now deceased. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 877 

Elijah J. Anders grew up on his father's farm in Champaign County 
and lived at home with his parents until he was twenty-six. In the mean- 
time he had acquired a good education in the district schools and also 
in the business college at Champaign. When he began farming on his 
own account it was as a renter of 155 acres, and after entering business at 
Sidney in 1913 he continued to supervise his farming interests. At 
Sidney Mr. Anders joined Mr. Golden in the implement business a year 
and a half. Then for fifteen months he was assistant bookkeeper in the 
State Bank and has since been manager of the Sidney Grain Company. 
He is utilizing his important connections and acquaintance with the grain 
raisers in this section of Illinois to build up a highly profitable and success- 
ful business. 

Mr. Anders married, February 26, 1902, Miss Alice Porterfield. They 
have two bright young children, Dorothy Mildred and Clifford Burt, both 
of whom are receiving their education in the local schools. Mr. Anders 
is a Democrat and is a present member of the town board of Sidney. He 
and his family attend worship at the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

J. K. P. YEATS, who before he reached his majority gave loyal service 
to the Union in the Civil War, has spent half a century as a practical 
farmer in Champaign County and his life is closely identified with its 
welfare and making. 

The Yeats family were pioneers in southwestern Champaign County 
and lived as close neighbors to that great pioneer whose name appears so 
prominent in this history, Henry Sadorus. Mr. Sadorus often told the 
children of the Yeats family many interesting experiences of his pioneer 
life. 

J. K. P. Yeats was born in Fountain County, Indiana, and was five 
years of age when his parents, Zepheniah and Matilda (Kerr) Yeats, came 
to Champaign County in 1850. His father was a native of Ohio and his 
mother of Kentucky. During the youth of Mr. Yeats the only school in 
the neighborhood was one maintained on' the subscription plan and he 
learned his lessons in that institution. 

He was nineteen years of age when he enlisted toward the close of 
the war in Company H of the Twenty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry. 
He went with other boys from Champaign County to Chicago, and almost 
immediately after his enlistment went on to Bichmond, Virginia, and 
camped a mile and a half from that city. His company and regiment were 
in the Fourteenth Army Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Most of 
his duty was as guard around Eichmond and he remained in the service 
until July 24, 1865, when he was mustered out and given his honorable 
discharge. 

On August 26, 1867, Mr. Yeats married Elizabeth E. Johnston. She 
is a native of the Blue Grass State of Kentucky, daughter of Eobert and 
Olivia (Muir) Johnston, also natives of Kentucky. Her parents came to 
Illinois and settled in Champaign County in 1854, when Elizabeth was a 
small child. She grew up in this state and gained her education in the 
Swearingen and the Kirkpatrick schools. After returning from the war 
Mr. Yeats was employed by Mr. Busey and boarded at the home of Mr. 
Johnston, and repaid his landlord's kindness by marrying his Daughter. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Yeats located four miles north of 
St. Joseph, and for six years rented the farm of Harrison Drellinger. 
Later they moved to Sadorus, where they lived ten years on his father's 
farm. This land, comprising 160 acres, had been entered direct from the 
Government by his father at the price of $1.25 an acre. Mr. and Mrs. 
Yeats finally bought 160 acres in Stanton Township, and made that their 

223 



878 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

permanent home, and it is a place endeared to them and their children by 
many grateful associations. 

Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Yeats : Clara, Minnie, Carrie, 
Elmer, Anna, Nellie, Jimmie, Pearl, Carlos and Bernice. The oldest, 
Clara, died at the age of four months, and the youngest, Bernice, died 
when two years of age. The other children were well educated in the 
Baldwin and No. 7 district schools and some of them attended high 
school. Minnie is now the wife of Charles Martin, a farmer at Lebanon, 
Indiana, and they have four children, three daughters and one son, Myrtle 
and Mabel (twins), Vern and Lois. The daughter Carrie is the wife 
of Lee Dunn, a resident of Champaign, and their five daughters and 
one son are named Raymond, Wintress, Wilma, Mildred, Olive and Myrtle. 
The son Elmer is a Stanton Township farmer, and by his marriage to 
Alta Yeazel has children: Ray, Ralph, Ruby, Russell and Roma. The 
daughter Anna married Nathan Rudolph, a farmer in Ogden Township, 
and their children are Jimmie, Hazel and Blanche. Nellie married R. L. 
Davis, a farmer in St. Joseph Township, and their five children are 
Beulah, Glen, Pearl, Bernice and Mabel. The son Carlos is a farmer in 
St. Joseph Township and married Etta Wilson. Pearl married Elmer 
Bantz, and she died fifteen years ago. 

Mr. and Mrs. Yeats have performed a noble part by these children, 
instilling in them principles of integrity and usefulness, and have the satis- 
faction of seeing them all well established in life. 

Mr. and Mrs. Yeats are regular members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church of St. Joseph. In politics he is a Democrat. Through the many 
years of his active work in Champaign County Mr. Yeats has had the 
counsel and assistance of a noble wife who has stood by his side, and it is 
now just half a century since they were married. Six years ago Mr. and 
Mrs. Yeats left their farm and located in the village of St. Joseph, where 
he bought a good home on Warren Street, just far enough out to combine 
the advantages of town and country. 

Mr. Yeats has been a witness to the wonderful transformation which 
has recreated Champaign County from the days of the wilderness. As a 
boy he frequently saw deer in droves of fifty, and many other wild animals, 
including catamounts and an occasional panther, which struck terror to 
an entire neighborhood. Prairie wolves often wandered about the Yeats 
home and the boy J. K. P. frequently took refuge under a bed when these 
animals were prowling around the cabin home. As was the case with 
most of the homes, the Yeats house had its roof secured by weight poles. 
Not infrequently a heavy wind would blow part of the roof off and the 
beds underneath would be drenched with rain. Mr. Yeats' memory goes 
back to the days when matches were very scarce and cost 10 cents for a 
box of a dozen. Comparatively few homes had them at all and the com- 
mon resource for starting a fire was to load a gun with powder and cotton, 
discharge it, thus igniting the cotton and gradually nurse the fire into a 
blaze. Iron and steel were exceedingly scarce, and nails were seldom used 
in building houses or for any other purpose. Thus Mr. Yeats has been 
one of those who bore the heat and burden of the day in the pioneer devel- 
opment of Champaign County and great honor is due him and to all 
others who were sharers in this great work. 

PETEK Jonx WAGNER has been for many years identified with the farm- 
ing enterprise of Ogden Township, and still lives in a home and on a farm 
that are evidence of his hard work and intelligent care. This attractive 
rural home is in section 18 of Ogden Township, conveniently situated by 
the interurban road. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 879 

Mr. Wagner was born at Brownhelm in Lorain County, Ohio, a son of 
Berkharclt and Catherine (Hahn) Wagner. His parents were both natives 
of Germany. Berkhardt came to this country when twenty-seven years of 
age. His wife was a year and a half old when her parents crossed the 
ocean and found a home in America. Peter J. Wagner was one of three 
sons, the oldest being Charles H. and the youngest Henry Charles. The 
Wagner family lived in a splendid German community of Lorain County, 
and had many close and intimate friends there. The Wagners honored 
some of these good friends in naming their children, but Peter John was 
named for the two great apostles. The Wagners were active members of 
the German Reformed Church. 

Peter John Wagner received his education in a district school, and 
at the age of twenty-two he married Anna Caroline Loeffler. She was born 
in Illinois, a daughter of George B. Loeffler. After his marriage Mrs. 
Wagner's father sent for the young couple, inviting them to come to Illinois 
and settle in Ogden Township. Many attractive opportunities were 
described, but at first the young people became very homesick and it was 
some time before they accommodated themselves to the comparatively new 
country among strangers. They began as housekeepers for Uncle Chris 
Loeffler and rented forty acres of land. The next year Mr. Wagner paid 
$25 an acre for eighty acres and lived on that place a number of years. 

Three children were born to his marriage, Minnie, Clara and Albert, 
the last dying in infancy. The mother was taken away by death, and 
Mr. Wagner was left with his little children, but with the aid of his mother 
and sister who came on from Ohio he reared them and kept the household 
together. Later he married a sister of his first wife, Elizabeth Loeffler, who 
came into the home as a Christian mother for his children. Three children 
were born to the second marriage, Edith, Charles and John. John died in 
childhood. 

In the meantime Mr. Wagner bought forty acres of land in section 18 
and later made the improvements which have resulted in his permanent 
home. He set out many trees and gradually accumulated other land until 
his estate consists of 160 acres. He also owns another farm of ninety-seven 
and a half acres, where he built a fine modern home, and it is now occupied 
by his son Charles. Charles married Grace Currie and has three children, 
Ralph, Peter and Merle. 

Mr. Wagner also lost his second wife by death, and the daughter Minnie 
died at the age of nineteen, a lovable young woman who had gained a large 
circle of friends. Mr. Wagner's daughter Clara married John Firebaugh, 
and they live on a farm at Kell,. Illinois. They have five young sons, true 
types of American boys, named Oral, Carrol, Clinton, Dale and Amel. The 
daughter Edith married Siegel Yeazle, a farmer, and their three children 
are Nellie, Glen and Helen. 

For his third wife Mr. Wagner married Minnie Gregor. who was born 
at Urbana, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Rambo) Gregor. There were 
also three children of this marriage, Roy, Elmer and John. Roy died at 
the age of seventeen. He was a tall, muscular youth, a fine specimen of 
manhood, but in spite of everything that could be done for him he became 
a victim of the grim reaper. Mr. Wagner's last wife died of cancer, 
April 30, 1915. His son Elmer is still living at home. 

All the children were given good advantages. Charles graduated from 
the high school at Ogden and was a successful teacher in the Clark School, 
and he also took special studies in the University of Illinois. He ranked 
first in the county in high school examination. The son Elmer attended 
the Urbana High School. 

Mr. Wagner and family are active members of the German Reformed 



880 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Church, a splendid old church that has stood as a beacon light for many 
years in that community. Mr. Wagner served six years as school director 
and for a number of years was ditch commissioner and school trustee. He 
is one of the men who has been most active in promoting a drainage system 
in Champaign County. A number of years ago drainage was looked upon 
as an extravagance, but the people have been gradually educated until they 
now feel that money invested in this way brings more returns than any 
other. It is said that Mr. Wagner has done as much in the building of 
drains in Ogden as any other individual. He is a man of high principles, 
of absolute integrity of character, and has enjoyed the friendship and esteem 
of a large circle of friends. Politically he is a Democrat, though his broad 
views have frequently led him to support the man rather than the party. 
It is well known in that section of the county that his word is as good as 
a bond, and higher praise for his commercial integrity could not be uttered. 
Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order, Knights of Pythias, 
with the Eastern Star and Pythian Sisters. 

DAVID HABVEY LESTER. For almost a half century has David Harvey 
Lester been a resident of Champaign County and it has been his privilege 
to witness and bear a part in its remarkable development. He is a native 
of Indiana and was born in Switzerland County, October 18, 1848. His 
parents were David A. and Eliza A. (Gerard) Lester, who were the 
parents of eight children, the survivors being: Martha, who is the widow 
of Robert T. Graham, has five children and lives at Vevay, Indiana; 
David Harvey; Margaret, who is a resident of Saint Joseph, Champaign 
County; Mary, who is the wife of Eugene Abbott, a farmer in Wabash 
County, Indiana; Armenia, who is the wife of John More, a fruit dealer 
and grocer living in California; Clara, who is the wife of A. T. Clark 
and they live in Indiana; and John, who is an agriculturist and resides 
near Cromwell in Noble County, Indiana. 

David A. Lester and his wife were born in Switzerland County, 
Indiana, where he died at the early age of thirty-five years. After the 
death of her husband the mother of the above family remained in Indiana 
until 1889, when she came to Champaign County, Illinois, where she yet 
resides. She has reached the unusual age of ninety years and, what is 
more remarkable, has retained her faculties unimpaired and enjoys gen- 
eral good health. She is tenderly cared for and resides with her daughter 
Margaret, and there loves to have her descendants gather about her. 

David Harvey Lester is an example of the self made man. He had 
but few educational advantages in boyhood, a short time only in the sub- 
scription schools covering his entire opportunity, but general reading and 
years of association with men and affairs have made Mr. Lester one of the 
well informed men of his county. He was twenty years old when he started 
out on his own responsibility and he remembers the first 50 cents he earned 
by covering corn. When he came to Champaign ' County he had a cash 
capital of $20, but has lived to see the day when his name at the bottom 
of a legal paper is accepted in any bank in the state for any amount repre- 
sented. 

For three years after becoming a resident of this county, Mr. Lester 
worked as a farm hand, his wages being $18 a month, which he surely 
earned, considering how little farm machinery was then employed to assist 
in agricultural industries at that time. After his marriage in 1871 he 
decided to become a pioneer in Nebraska, glowing accounts of which 
territory being then circulated through the more closely settled states, and 
located on land in Otoe County, near Nebraska City, two years later mov- 
ing to near Beaver City and lived one year on a homestead of 160 acres. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 881 

There were many hardships to be endured and by 1874 Mr. Lester deter- 
mined to return to Champaign County, even if he had to begin once more 
at the bottom of the ladder. For eight years after coming back to Illinois 
he rented farm land and then felt justified in buying the first forty acres 
of his present ample estate and had it paid for in a comparatively short 
time. Through his own hard work and the judicious frugality of his 
estimable wife he made further progress and at the present time owns 
seventy-two acres of finely developed land and his wife had an equally valu- 
able tract of thirty-two acres. 

Mr. Lester was married November 17, 1871, to Miss Phoebe Brodrick, 
who was born in Champaign County, Illinois, January 8, 1855, and 
passed away in her home in Newcomb Township, November 8, 1915. She 
was a noble woman both within and without her family circle and there 
were many outside the domestic circle who felt bereaved, for she had 
been known for twenty years as a kind and faithful Sunday school 
teacher in her neighborhood prior to her marriage, and at the time of 
death was president of the Ladies' Aid Society of the Shiloh Methodist 
Episcopal Church. She was the beloved mother of four sons and two 
daughters, the four survivors of her children being: Effie, who married 
H. S. Wright, a prominent farmer in this township and they have six 
children; Bert, who was educated in the public schools, the Mahomet 
High School and the State University at Champaign, for two years has 
been superintendent of schools at Piper City, Ford County, Illinois, mar- 
ried Grace Addison and they have three children, Howard, Eloise and 
John, and he is identified fraternally with the Odd Fellows, the Knights 
of Pythias and the Royal Neighbors; Oran, who is a graduate of the 
high school at Mahomet and a successful teacher, lives with his father on 
the homestead ; Daisy was a- student in the State Normal University at 
Normal, Illinois, after being graduated from the Mahomet High School, 
and she married Elmer Rohlfing and they have two children, Elizabeth and 
Lucile. 

William B. Brodrick, father of Mrs. Lester, was born in Ohio, moved 
from there to Indiana and from there came to Champaign County and 
acquired 160 acres of land in Newcomb Township. He became one of the 
leading men, was prominent in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for 
many years was a school trustee and also was township clerk. His death 
occurred in 1895. He married Phoebe Keelor, who was born in Indiana 
and is now deceased, and they had seven children born to them, four sons, 
two of whom served in the Civil War, and three daughters. Two sons 
survive: Charles, who is a resident of Santa Cruz, California, and Allen, 
who is a retired farmer of Newcomb Township. 

Mr. Lester is a Republican and he cast his first presidential vote for 
Ulysses S. Grant and ever since has loyally supported the great men of 
his party who have been candidates, and frequently he has served as a 
delegate to the county conventions. He has conscientiously done his part 
at all times as a good citizen and his fellow men have shown their con- 
fidence by many times electing him to local offices. For twenty years he 
served as a school director, for one year was a school trustee, for ten years 
was highway commissioner of the township, and for two terms was 
assessor of his township, the duties of every office being performed honestly 
and efficiently. For many years he has been a member of the order of 
Knights of Pythias, attending the lodge at Fisher, Illinois. Mr. Lester 
has been one of the pillars of the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church. 
W T hen this congregation resolved to erect a new house of worship a building 
committee was appointed that was made up of the prominent and sub- 
stantial men of business experience and good judgment, and Mr. Lester 



882 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

was one of these. The beautiful building was dedicated May 13, 1917, 
and was erected at a cost of $9,000. This edifice is a credit to Champaign 
County and to the progressive church organization whereby it was made 
a possibility. Mr. Lester is still a member of the financial committee. 
He is in every way recognized as one of the dependable and trustworthy 
men of his township and his name is justly included in a history of the 
worthy men of Champaign County. 

PHILLIP MOHR arrived in Champaign County in 1874. He was then 
a young man, only a few years over from Germany, possessed a fair educa- 
tion, knew how to work, but was without friends of influence and without 
a personal fortune. Hard work and good judgment have been the route 
which he has followed on the road to success. He is widely known over 
the county, is a progressive and up-to-date farmer, and has earned all 
the competence which he and his family now enjoy. 

Mr. Mohr is a native of Germany and represents that sturdy class of 
old country people who perhaps to a greater degree than any other 
nationality have proved successful and enterprising farmers in America. 
Like most of his fellow citizens, Mr. Mohr came to this country without 
money, but he availed himself of the wonderful opportunities of the new 
land and has been a factor in the progress of Champaign County for over 
forty years. 

He was born in the village of Kultsee, not far from Stettin, in the 
province of Pomerania, on January 3, 1851. He was the youngest of six 
children, five sons and one daughter. His parents were Karl and Mary 
(Rosen thai) Mohr. His father was a native of the same province and 
cultivated a small tract of land there, where he lived and died. His death 
occurred about 1884. His wife was also born and spent her years in the 
same country. Both were active members of the German Lutheran Church. 

Phillip Mohr grew up on his father's farm, was educated in the German 
language, and when about twenty he said goodbye to his friends and 
family and started for America. This was in 1871. The vessel that 
brought him from Hamburg was seventy-two days in crossing the Atlantic 
and he did not land in New York City until the month of December. 
He then paid his fare to Chicago, and arrived in that city with only $2.50 
left. Here he found himself in a strange land, among a strange people, 
and unable to speak the English tongue. He bravely adapted himself 
to circumstances and sought every opportunity to earn an honest dollar. 
During the first winter he worked at putting up ice at $1.75 a day and 
afterwards found employment in lumber and brick yards. He remained 
in Chicago until 1874, in which year he came to Champaign City, which 
was then a small town with unpaved streets and with few of the buildings 
or other improvements that have since been made. 

Here he did his first work as a farm hand at $16 a month. In this 
way he continued for eight years and put away nearly all his earnings 
with a view to the future. His next experience was as a renter in Mahomet 
Township, and he farmed land owned by others for six years. In the 
meantime he married, and the aid and counsel of his good and capable 
wife were no small factor in his success. 

Finally he made a purchase of 100 acres, going in debt $2,200, and 
since then he has bought and sold and improved several farms. He finally 
traded his first tract and then bought 207 acres in Stanton Township, and 
there again assumed an indebtedness of $7,000. This he also sold after 
a time and moved to Somer Township, where he acquired 125 acres and 
kept it four years before selling. In 1898 Mr. Mohr came to Mahomet 
Township and bought 185 acres. To this he added eighty acres and now 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 883 

has a total of 265 acres, in addition to 118 acres in Scott Township. His 
home farm is almost a model in management and improvement. In 1908 
he built a beautiful home, modern in every detail, and one of the best 
residences in that section of the country. 

In March, 1884, Mr. Mohr married Miss Ida Reyburn. To their mar- 
riage were born six children, all sons, and four are still living. These 
sons are all home and all of them received good advantages in the way 
of home training and discipline and the privileges of the local schools. 
Ernest J., the oldest, is a practical agriculturist on the home farm, is a 
Republican and a member of the Methodist Church. Louis is also a 
successful young farmer and a member of the same political party and 
of the same church as his brother. The two younger sons are Fred and 
Carl, the latter still attending school. 

It would not be possible to speak too highly of the good and capable 
companion that Mr. Mohr chose for his wife and whose industry and 
thrift were such important factors in their success. She was born in 
Champaign County in 1863, a daughter of R. G. and Isabel (Herriott) 
Reyburn. She was reared and educated in this county and possessed more 
than ordinary ability and wisdom. She was a member of the Presbyterian 
Church and in that faith she passed away in October, 1915. Her remains 
are now at rest in the Riverside Cemetery. 

Mr. Mohr has been, a Republican since he acquired his American citizen- 
ship, and while always interested in the welfare of his community has 
never held any office. He is of the German Lutheran faith and is in 
every way a true and loyal American and has reared his sons to cherish 
the principles of his adopted land. 

LAWRENCE E. FAB.LOW. While one of the younger residents of Fisher 
as a business man, where he has lived for the past five years, Mr. Farlow 
lacks none of that enthusiasm, energy and enterprise which are funda- 
mentals in success and the advancement of a community. His responsi- 
bilities in a business way are chiefly as manager of the Fisher Farmers 
Grain and Coal Company. 

Mr. Farlow is a native of Jefferson County, Illinois, where he was born 
January 2, 1889, a son of S. M. and Marian (Redmond) Farlow. His 
father was also, born in Jefferson County and the larger part of his life 
has been spent as an agriculturist. The common schools educated him 
and he also had a year of college training. For fifteen years he was suc- 
cessfully at work as a teacher in Jefferson County, and many of his 
students now grown to, manhood and womanhood have a grateful memory 
of his work in their behalf. Politically he is a Democrat and has served 
his home county and township as an official for a number of years, having 
been justice of the peace sixteen years and school treasurer four years. 
Both he and his wife have been affiliated with the Missionary Baptist 
Church and he is now superintendent of the Sunday School, an office he 
has filled a number of years. The father resides at Belle Rive, Illinois. 
His wife, who was also born in Illinois, died in October, 1897, and is 
buried in her home township. 

Lawrence E. Farlow in addition to the advantages of the common 
schools had one year of training in Ewing College in Franklin County, 
Illinois, and also took a course in Carleton College at Farmington, Mis- 
souri. His early work was in the same line as his father, teaching, 
which he followed successfully for five years in Jefferson County. Mr. 
Farlow came to Fisher, Illinois, in 1912, and was made bookkeeper of the 
Fisher Farmers Grain and Coal Company. Three months later the directors 
of that company, recognizing his thorough fitness and capability, made 



884 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

him manager, and the business has since grown and flourished under his 
capable direction. 

Mr. Farlow married, February 6, 1910, Miss Bertie Bumpus. They 
Lave two young children, Coenia B. and Edwin M. These children are 
the pride and delight of their parents. 

Mrs. Farlow was born in Jefferson County, Illinois, in 1891, and 
besides the common school course she attended Mount Vernon High 
School and spent one term in Carleton College. She is an active member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is secretary of the Domestic 
Science Club of Fisher. 

The Farmers Grain and Coal Company of Fisher is one of the leading 
enterprises in that section of Champaign County. To the business Mr. 
Farlow has given the best that is in him and he is well fitted tempera- 
mentally for contracting business with the public. He possesses the 
qualities of cordiality and a pleasant greeting for all comers, and these, 
combined with his honesty and integrity, command for him an impreg- 
nable place of advantage in the community. Politically he is a Demo- 
crat, having cast his first presidential vote for President Wilson. He 
was one of the village trustees of Fisher for one year. Mr. Farlow is a 
member of Lodge No. 704 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at 
Fisher and is treasurer of the lodge. While his church affiliation is as a 
Baptist, he is now superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday 
school at Fisher, this being one of the most vigorous Sunday schools of 
the town. Mr. and Mrs. Farlow have a beautiful and modern bungalow 
residence on Fifth Street, and it is a home of peace, harmony and good 
cheer, where they extend their hospitality to many friends. 

J. B. DUNN, after many years of activity as an agriculturist in Cham- 
paign County, is living retired in the comforts and conveniences of a good 
town home on Third Street in St. Joseph. 

Mr. Dunn is a native of the grand old Blue Grass country of Harrison 
County, Kentucky. His parents were Benjamin F. and Eachel (Kerns) 
Dunn, also natives of Kentucky. Mr. Dunn grew up in Kentucky and 
acquired his education by attending about three months every year a sub- 
scription school. When he was ten years of age he lost the guidance and 
care of his mother and some years later his father moved to Illinois. The 
family arrived in Champaign County October 18, 1871, when J. B. Dunn 
was twenty years of age. This was only a few days after the great Chicago 
fire, and much excitement prevailed and all the talk on the train was of 
the terrible disaster. The family location was in Somer Township, near 
Locust Grove. 

On coming to this county J. B. Dunn obtained work as a farm laborer, 
and afterwards, with a view to bettering his condition, farmed on the 
shares. He continued in this way three years. 

August 3, 1878, he established a home of his own by his marriage to 
Matie L. Hunt. Mrs. Dunn was born in Stanton Township of Champaign 
County, daughter of Jonathan Hunt. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. 
Dunn rented 200 acres in Stanton Township, and they worked hard, 
economized and remained on that site for eight years, at the end of which 
time they had acquired some capital with which to make a real start in 
life. Mr. Dunn then bought a farm for $40 an acre and when he got on 
land of his own his enthusiasm was born anew and with bountiful crops 
rewarding his labors he was soon on the highway to independence and 
success. 

Into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dunn were born five children : Claud 0., 
Lawrence E., Ethel Irene, Lena Ray and Merle. These children were 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 885 

educated in the district schools of Stanton Township. Claud and Law- 
rence were also students in the St. Joseph High School, and later both of 
them took a business course in a college at Marion, Indiana. That gave 
them superior equipment for their respective callings in life. Claud 0. 
Dunn is a successful farmer near Elwell, Michigan. He married Leonet 
Doll of Elkhart, Indiana, and their three children are Everett, Florence 
and Hilda. The son Lawrence E., a successful stockman in Indianapolis, 
where he is a commission merchant, married Nellie Snyder. The daughter 
Ethel Dunn married Raymond Besore, and they live at Alma, Michigan, 
where Mr. Besore is proprietor of a steam laundry. They have a son, 
Lisle. Lena Ray Dunn married Otis Phenicie, a farmer in Stanton Town- 
ship, and they have a son, Arden. Merle, the youngest child of Mr. Dunn, 
is associated with his brother in the stock business at Indianapolis, and 
both of them are doing very well for young men. Mr. Dunn's children 
have thus proved their ability to go out and cope with the problems of the 
world, and they are a credit and satisfaction to their father. 

The family has experienced the usual joys and sorrows of existence, 
and on July 23, 1903, the good wife and mother passed away. On October 
24, 1906, Mr. Dunn married Mrs. Laura E. (Swisher) O'Day. They have a 
bright young daughter, Roxine Lucile, now seven years of age and in the 
third grade of the public schools. 

In 1912 Mr. and Mrs. Dunn decided to leave the farm and remove to 
the village of St. Joseph, where they purchased a fine brick residence on 
Third Street. Having spent many years as a practical farmer, Mr. Dunn 
is now able to enjoy thoroughly the leisure and comforts won by so much 
expenditure of effort. He and his wife are regular attendants of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church and their little daughter is a student in the 
Sunday school. In politics Mr. Dunn is a Democrat. He is affiliated 
with the Masonic order, being a charter member of St. Joseph lodge, 
while Mrs. Dunn is a member of the Eastern Star. Mr. Dunn is a man 
who with all the cares of his home and business has been willing to assume 
the burdens of public responsibility. He has filled several offices which 
indicate the confidence of the community in his judgment, such as road 
commissioner, township supervisor and school trustee. He is a man 
among men, interested in questions of vital interest to the public, and 
willing to get out and work for anything that concerns the welfare of 
Champaign County. 

MORRIS F. COLE. The following sketch contains the important facts 
in the life and family record of a Champaign County citizen whose name 
always stood for all that was honest and of good report in the community. 
It also was significant of thrift and business integrity. Mr. Cole was a 
farmer, spent his life, which was prematurely cut short at the age of 
forty-nine, in Champaign County, and had gained a competence for him- 
self by his well directed labors. 

He was born on a farm in section 24 of Philo Township, November 27, 
1867. His death occurred at his home April 8, 1917. His parents, 
Charles F. and Maria (Pease) Cole, were natives of Massachusetts and 
were early settlers in Champaign County. His father was a practical 
farmer, and died in this county January 7, 1899. The mother is still liv- 
ing at Philo. They had eight children: Nellie, deceased; Belle, wife of 
Millard Porterfield, of Fairmount, Illinois; Hattie, wife of J. N. Black, 
of Mahomet; Angie, wife of J. T. Black, of Peru, Indiana; Morris P.; 
Royal G., of Cortland, New York; and Stella and Charles, both of whom 
died in childhood. 

The late Morris F. Cole was reared at home and in the local schools 



886 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

acquired a good education. At the age of. twenty-one he went out to 
Wyoming and put in three years of adventure and exciting experience as 
a cowboy on the ranches. He returned to Champaign County in the win- 
ter of 1892, was married soon afterward, and he and his wife started 
housekeeping on a rented farm. He handled about 300 acres of rented 
land and worked it profitably for himself and its owners for about seven- 
teen years. In the meantime he began buying land of his own and at the 
time of his death had 200 acres in section 25 of Philo Township. 

Mr. Cole was married February 2, 1893, to Lydia Thrash, daughter of 
John and Matilda (Knepper) Thrash. Her parents were born in Fairfield 
County, Ohio, and moved to Champaign County, Illinois, in 1873, locating 
on a farm in Philo Township. Her father died March 8, 1917, and thus 
Mrs. Cole suffered bereavement of her father and husband within a few 
weeks. Her mother passed away October 4, 1906. Mrs. Cole was one of 
seven children: Emma, wife of A. J. Pettigrew of Wayne County, 
Illinois; a daughter who died in infancy; Perry of Tolono, Illinois; the 
fifth child also died early; William lives in California; Mrs. Cole is the 
next; and John H. lives at Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

Mr. and Mrs. Cole had five children : Hazel Mae, Estella M., Nina B., 
Charles F. and Gladys L. All the children are still living except Nina. 

Mr. Cole was not only a practical and progressive farmer but a man 
who commanded the confidence of his fellow citizens and was frequently 
entrusted with offices of responsibility in the community. He served as 
road commissioner, school director, was active in the Champaign County 
Agricultural Association and also held the offices of assessor and collector. 
He was affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and the Court of Honor, the Knights of Pythias, 
and the Loyal Order of Moose. He and his family worshipped in the 
Presbyterian Church. 

J. L. PETERS. Three years have gone by since Mr. J. L. Peters passed 
that landmark of mortal journey known as three score and ten, and he 
and his good wife, who has been counselor and adviser and companion by 
his side for more than half a century, are now enjoying the comforts of 
retirement at their pleasant and attractive country home near the village 
of Tipton in St. Joseph Township. 

Mr. Peters is one of the oldest living native sons of St. Joseph Town- 
ship, where he was born January 25, 1844. That date is of itself evidence 
that the Peters family came to Champaign County along with the earliest 
pioneers. His parents were William and Sarah (McNutt) Peters. They 
were born in Kentucky, were married there, and soon after their marriage 
they started for a new nome in the North, making the journey in a covered 
wagon. At that time all of Champaign County was a new district, and 
Indians were still here in large numbers, and through their thieving and 
begging propensities were somewhat troublesome. Mrs. Peters had never 
been accustomed to such neighbors, and she lived in constant dread of the 
red men, though they confined their excursions to the Peters home to 
merely beg something to eat. When the Peters family came to Champaign 
County fully 500 Indians were living within its boundaries. . They usually 
spent the winter in the South, but returned early in the spring and fre- 
quented the sugar maple groves, where they tapped the trees and made 
sugar. Amid the circumstances of pioneer life Mrs. William Peters 
would gladly have returned to her old home in the Blue Grass State, but 
such a course was not practicable and in time she became better satisfied 
and contented. 

William Peters on coming to Champaign County filed on 160 acres 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 887 

of Government land and paid $1.25 an acre. He was an energetic worker 
and a good business manager. There were few of the modern facilities and 
institutions in Champaign County, no railroads, no interurbans, and no 
modern highways. He usually went to Chicago to mill, driving in a 
big wagon and taking a week for the trip. On one of these trips he traded 
the only horse he had for some land and returned home on foot, carrying 
the flour on his back. He was determined to have as much land as he 
could care for, and he was granted his desire, and at one time owned 
more than 400 acres of the rich and fertile soil of Champaign County. 
The children of these parents had to make the most of their advantages 
in an old log schoolhouse, a building that was exposed to the elements 
and in spite of a roaring fire at one end was miserably cold. 

In such circumstances J. L. Peters grew to manhood. The war came 
on when he was still a small boy, and during his twenty-first year he 
volunteered at Homer and enlisted in Company K of the One Hundred 
and Thirty-third Illinois Infantry. He marched away with the hoys in 
blue, being first ordered to Camp Butler at Springfield, and was then 
sent to Rock Island on the Mississippi River, where he was one of .the 
soldiers guarding 10,000 Rebel prisoners. Practically all his service was 
in performing this heavy guard duty, and he welcomed the restoration of 
peace and his relief from such burdensome responsibilities. He was mus- 
tered out at Springfield, given an honorable discharge, and set out for 
home. 

It was a sad home coming, since his father had died during his absence 
in the army. On April 20, 1865, soon after the close of his military 
experience, Mr. Peters married Ann E. Moore. She was born at Greens- 
boro in Henry County, Indiana, a daughter of William and Rhoda 
(Maudlin) Moore. When she was six years of age her parents came to 
Champaign County and she grew up and attended the same district school 
as her husband. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Peters started farming the old 
'homestead and acquired part of the estate. Here they surrounded them- 
selves with much material prosperity, but their chief pride has always 
centered in the fine family of children who have grown up around them. 
They are eleven in number, and were named Emmaline, Laura B., 
Lucinda A., Alta M., Milton, Lida M., John N"., Grant, Maggie P., 
Minnie E. and Fred. These children were educated in the local district 
schools. The daughter Emmaline married Charles McElwee and her chil- 
dren are May, Oral, Jennie, Effie, Iscle, Thelma and Ray. Laura B. mar- 
ried William Coburn, and is the mother of two children, Fay and William. 
Lucinda A. is the wife of James Stayton, and their two children are 
Florence and Hazel. Milton, who married Clara Hixenbaugh, have two 
children, Cecil and Bessie. Lida M. married Adrian Overman, and they 
have a large family consisting of Hallie, Helen, Lawrence, Russel, Ruth 
and Ray. The son John N. married Anna Pieplow, their children being 
Gladys, Grace, Dallas, Wayne, Charles and Paul. The son Grant married 
Bessie Raderbaugh. Maggie P. is the wife of Ed Lientz and the mother 
of Francis, Opal, Carl and Pauline. Minnie E. married Floyd Stephenson 
and has a son Paul. Fred married Bertha Schmidts. 

Death has not spared the Peters family circle and at different times 
three of the children have been taken away, Laura B., Alta M. and Milton, 
while the wives of the sons Grant and Milton are also deceased. Mr. Grant 
Peters, since the death of his wife, has lived at the old homestead with 
his parents, superintends the management of the farm and is a good, 
steady, hard working man whose presence is a great comfort to his father 
and mother in their declining days. . 



888 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mrs. Peters is an active member of the New Light Church at Tipton. 
Politically Mr. Peters has always been stanchly aligned with the Republican 
party, and has given it his best support since Civil War times. He has 
served as school director, and having a large family of his own to educate 
has been extremely interested in securing the best of instruction for the 
young people of the neighborhood. 

WILLIAM B. BROWN. By a residence of fifty-seven years in Cham- 
paign County there is no place in the world so dear to William B. Brown 
as this picturesque and beautiful section of eastern Illinois. His suc- 
cesses have been gained here, he reared his family on his farm, and prac- 
tically all the associations of a long life have been found here. 

Mr. Brown was born in Monroe County, Indiana, September 22, 1854. 
He was the only son in a family of three children born to Milton Monroe 
and Sarah (Houston) Brown. His two sisters are Mary Jane and 
Eliza E. Mary Jane is the wife of C. T. Langwell, b. farmer at Reynolds, 
Indiana. Mrs. Langwell was educated in the common schools and is a 
member of the Christian Church. Eliza is the wife of A. H. Dellman, 
also of Reynolds, Indiana. 

Milton M. Brown was born in Monroe County, Indiana, October 25, 
1829, and spent his life as a farmer. He was educated in one of the log 
cabin schoolhouses with its slab benches and its restricted curriculum. 
About 1855 he came out to Eastern Illinois, making the journey in pioneer 
style with wagons and teams. He bought land in Brown Township, but 
subsequently returned to his native county. A few years later he located 
in Champaign County, Illinois, and at the time of his death was the owner 
of 280 acres of this rich soil. He was a Democrat in politics. His first 
wife died when William B. Brown was four years old, on December 25, 
1858. She is buried in the Devore cemetery, where a monument marks 
her last resting place. The father married for his second wife Rosa 
Torpy, and of their three children all are now deceased. The lineage of 
the Brown family goes back to England. 

William B. Brown grew up in Champaign County, attended the com- 
mon schools here, and early learned the lessons set for him in the fields 
and the meadows and the other workshops of his father's farm. When he 
left home it was as a wage earner and farm hand at a salary of $20 a 
month. In that way he continued working for six years, and he began 
truly at the bottom round of the ladder and steadily climbed by his own 
exertions by a strictly honorable relationship in all his dealings. 

The first land he secured for himself was eighty acres three miles 
southeast of his present estate. He went in debt for most of the purchase 
price, having only $400 in capital at his command. For the balance he 
paid seven per cent interest. He made that purchase in 1880 and sold it 
in 1901 in order to buy his present farm of 160 acres, 140 acres being 
situated in section 10 and the remaining twenty in section 3. Every 
acre of the land is tillable, and altogether it makes a magnificent farming 
estate. 

On January 1, 1880, Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss 
Amanda C. Blake. Seven children were the fruit of their union, four 
sons and three daughters. Only two are now living. Cynthia Ann is the 
wife of Frank Wilson. They lived at Foosland in this county until 1909, 
when they removed to North Dakota and they now have a fine farm of 
320 acres at Fairdale in that state. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have two 
children: Hazel, now attending the fifth grade of the public schools, and 
Bessie B., who is also in school. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church while they lived at Foosland. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 889 

Eobert C., the only living son of Mr. Brown, was educated in the com- 
mon schools, has proved himself a practicable and thoroughly progressive 
farmer, and has active charge of his father's estate. He married Miss 
Pearl Zimmerman. Their two sons are Warren B. and Sherrill H., both 
of whom are in school and are noted for their excellence in their studies. 
Miss Pearl Zimmerman was born in Harper County, Kansas, on Octo- 
ber 20, 1888, but when she was three years of age her parents came to 
Champaign County, where she attended the common schools. She and 
her husband are active members of the" Christian Church. Her mother 
is now living with Mr. and Mrs. Eobert Brown. She was one of six 
children, and three are now living, her two sisters being: Alta 0., wife of 
J. A. Selberg, a successful stock buyer in Minnesota, and they have two 
sons ; and Fannie M., wife of J. W. Way, a farmer at Tahlequah, Oklahoma, 
and they are the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters. 

Mrs. Eobert Brown's father, Mr. Zimmerman, was born in Germany 
and after coming to America located on a farm in Ford County, Illinois. 
He was a Democrat in politics. 

William B. Brown and his son Eobert are both members of the Demo- 
cratic party. The senior Mr. Brown has served as tax collector two 
different terms .and has been director of the local schools. His son has 
passed all the chairs in Lodge fto. 842 of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. 

FRANK STOUT. Practically every successful career is actuated by an 
earnest purpose and an energy of action sufficient to carry out definite plans 
of accomplishment. Purpose and energy have been the keynotes of the 
career of Frank Stout, a fine old-time citizen of Champaign County and 
one of the best known residents in the northwestern part of the county. 
Mr. Stout is now enjoying the fruits of a well-spent career at his com- 
fortable home in Mahomet Township near the village of Mahomet. Since 
an early age he has been self-reliant and independent, and owes his pros- 
perity chiefly to the plans which have originated in his own mind and to 
the energy and thrift which dominated both him and his estimable wife in 
carrying them out. 

Mr. Stout was born in Champaign County, August 27, 1857. He is 
the youngest of the three living children of Jacob and Louisa (Warner) 
Stout. His oldest brother, Charles, is a retired farmer in Champaign, a 
Methodist and a Eepublican, and he married Ella Heller. The second 
brother, Jesse, is now retired from farming and a resident of Champaign, 
is a Eepublican and a Methodist, and is married and has six children. 

Jacob Stout, the father of these children, was born in Ohio, was reared 
and educated there, and came to Illinois a young man without capital. 
His first work was done as a farm hand at $18 a month, and he followed 
this kind of employment steadily for a number of years. For nine years 
he lived in Missouri and made his first purchase of land in that state. 
Altogether he made the trip between Illinois and Missouri three times 
and each time in the emigrant style, with wagons and teams. He finally 
bought 120 acres in Champaign County, in Scott Township, assumed 
heavy obligations, but had his property all clear of indebtedness before his 
death. He began voting as a Whig and was afterwards a Eepublican, and 
he and his wife were devout Methodists. His death occurred about 1887, 
and in the cemetery at Monticello a monument marks his last resting place. 
His wife was also a native of Ohio, had a common school education, and 
her death occurred in 1862. She is also buried at Monticello. 

Mr. Frank Stout had to content himself with a common school educa- 
tion. Most of his career has been spent in Champaign County and his 



890 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

older friends know the quality of his thrift and enterprise as a young 
man and the diligence with which he worked steadily to achieve the object 
of his worthy ambition. When he was twenty-two years of age he began 
working out on farms, and his first wages were $20 a month. In this way 
he continued some years, and finally felt justified in taking upon himself 
the responsibilities of a home of his own. 

On January 1, 1886, he married Miss Leonora Clapper. When they 
married they still had success to achieve and they went earnestly to work 
and gained prosperity without aid from anyone, and all they have enjoyed 
is directly due to their thrifty energies. Three children have come into 
their home and it has been a matter of deep satisfaction that they have 
been able to train them well and furnish them good advantages in schools 
so as to fit them for worthy positions in the world. 

Ernest A., the oldest child, attended school at Mahomet, is still a 
resident of Mahomet Township, and for the past ten years has carefully 
looked after his duties as a rural free delivery man. His long service is 
the best proof of his business capacity. He is a Eepublican, a member 
of the Masonic order at Mahomet and with his wife is affiliated with the 
Court of Honor. He married Miss Hazel Curtis, and their two children 
are Nadine and Paul. 

Samuel, the second son, still claims his parents' home as his own, 
but at present is working on the aviation plant at Belleville, Illinois. He 
is a graduate of the Mahomet High School, of the State Normal Univer- 
sity, and has spent one year in the Summer Normal at Menominee, Michi- 
gan, also in Normal School at Indianapolis, and one year at the University 
of Illinois. He has been a very successful teacher and for two years was 
connected with the high school of Decatur. He is a Eepublican and a 
member of the Masonic order. 

Nellie B., the only daughter, is still at home with her parents. She 
spent one year in high school and has received considerable training in 
music. 

Mrs. Stout was born in Champaign County, January 1, 1862, a daughter 
of Samuel and Frances (Biggs) Clapper, an old and well known family 
in this section of the state. She is one of five children, four daughters 
and one son, still living, and all residents of Champaign County. Her 
father was born in Pennsylvania in 1829 and died in 1908. He was a 
successful farmer and when only a boy went to Ohio and afterward worked 
at the tanner's trade in Indianapolis. He came to Champaign County, 
where he married, and as a farmer he accumulated eighty acres of good 
land. He was a Whig and afterwards a Eepublican, and both he and 
his wife were devout Methodists. His remains now rest in Eiverside 
Cemetery. His wife was born in Ohio in 1836 and is still living, at 
the age of eighty-one, bright and active and looking after the duties of 
her home. 

Mrs. Stout had a common school education, and for over thirty years 
has given her husband, children and her community the value of her 
capable energy and her well-poised character. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stout made their first purchase of land in Newcomb 
Township, where they bought ninety acres. A year later they sold that 
and removed to Mahomet, where they have since had their home. They 
now own thirty-five acres just east of the town of Mahomet, also two lots 
in that town and one lot in Champaign, and have ten acres in Newcomb 
Township. These properties represent a sufficiency for all their needs 
and they have done much to develop and improve the land which has 
been under their management. Mr. Stout is a Eepublican, is affiliated 
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Mahomet, in which he has 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 891 

passed all the chairs, and he and his wife are both active in the Eebekahs 
and are leading members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Mahomet. 

WILLIAM M. PHENICIE, proprietor of the Sunny Prairie Farm irl Stan- 
ton Township, has known Champaign County for over half a century and 
was a factor in making it one of the garden spots of the world whether 
considered from an agricultural standpoint or as the home of industrious 
and worthy people. 

Mr. Phenicie is a native of Pennsylvania, having been born at Mercers- 
burg in Franklin County, a son of Joseph and Susan (Conner) Phenicie. 
His parents were also natives of the same state and were of English and 
German ancestry. William M. was one of seven children, four sons and 
three daughters, all of whom were well educated in the district schools of 
Franklin County. 

In 1861, the year the Civil War broke out, William Phenicie married 
Margaret Besore. She was also a native of Franklin County, a daughter 
of John and Mary (Mouen) Besore. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Phenicie located on one of his 
father's farms, but two years later came out to Illinois, where two of Mrs. 
Phenicie's brothers were living in Vermilion County. They spent only 
one year in that county, and then came to Stanton Township in' Champaign 
County. Here they rented land and subsequently Mr. Phenicie bought 
120 acres at $8 an acre from the Illinois Central Bailway. It was a tract 
of virgin prairie, without a single improvement, and their first home was 
one of the cabins such as dotted this county in pioneer times. The passing 
years brought evidences of their industry and good management, a good 
house was built, fruit and shade trees were planted, and the land was 
redeemed from the waste prairie and converted into a fine farm. 

In the .meantime children were born into their home to the number of 
six, three sons and three daughters. These sons and daughters were named 
Stephen H., Delia, George, Emma, Eva and Otis. All of them were edu- 
cated in the local schools, while Otis completed his education in the St. 
Joseph High School. While Mr. Phenicie has been liberally rewarded in 
a material way, he finds the greatest satisfaction of his career in the worthy 
sons and daughters who have grown up and have found honorable positions 
in life for themselves. Stephen H. is a successful farmer in southern 
Michigan. He married Emma Funkhouser, and their seven children are 
Oscar, Ethel, Ernest, Opal, Claude, William and Euth. The daughter 
Delia is the wife of William Barricklow, also a Michigan farmer, and they 
have three sons, C. Dwight, Cecil and Carlos. George has one of the good 
farms of Stanton Township, and by his marriage to Etta Johnson is the 
father of five children, Merle, Abner, Eoy, Harold and Chester. The 
daughter Emma is the wife of Adam Varner, and their family consists 
of Elmer, Vernie, Effie, Otis, Margaret, May, Letha and Clever. Eva is 
the wife of John Turner, a coal merchant at Urbana. Their children are 
Nellie, Marie, Ora, Amy, William and Norma. The youngest son and 
child, Otis, who lives on his father's homestead, married, September 26, 
1906, Lena Dunn, daughter of John B. Dunn. Otis and wife have an 
energetic young son, Arden, now ten years of age and a student in the 
fourth grade. Though so young, he takes a keen interest in aviation and 
flying machines. 

The Phenicie home has not escaped the visitation of death, and in 1910 
the good mother entered into rest. The lives of her children are an expres- 
sion of her character and training, and by many acts of kindliness and good 
she endeared herself to a large community. Mr. Phenicie and his late 
wife were active members of the Prairie Hope Christian Church, and for 



892 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

years he was a trustee in that organization. In politics he is a Democrat, 
and proof of his public spirit is found in his service for a number of years 
as a school director. 

When Mr. Phenicie came to Stanton Township there was not a public 
road, schoolhouse nor church in the entire community, and his own efforts 
and influence have co-operated with every movement for such improvement 
and advancement. Since the death of his good wife Mr. Phenicie has con- 
tinued to live on the home farm, but has surrendered the responsibilities of 
its management to his capable son Otis, and in his cultured daughter-in-law 
finds a most capable home maker. 

JOHN W. CHURCH, supervisor of Hensley Township, has been a resi- 
dent of Champaign County since 1884. Those years have marked his 
progressive labor toward independence as a farmer and today there is 
hardly a better known citizen in the northern half of Champaign County 
than Mr. Church. 

He is a native of Vigo County, Indiana, where he was born July 5, 
1860, third in a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters. 
Two of the family live in Illinois, his sister Ellen being the wife of 
Charles Roberts. Four others live in Indiana, and one in Minnesota and 
one in Michigan. 

Erastus Church, the father, was born in Vermont in 1833, of English 
lineage. At the age of twenty-one he came west and settled in Vigo 
County, Indiana, and became one of the substantial agriculturists of that 
section. He started life with only a common school education, but suc- 
ceeded well in all he undertook. He owned a farm of eighty-three acres 
in Vigo County and occupied it until his death. He was a Republican 
and he and his wife were active Methodists. Erastus Church married 
Julia Barnard, who was. born in New York State in 1832, daughter of a 
Baptist minister who preached in many localities of the South and at one 
time resided on the estate of Henry Clay. 

John W. Church was reared and educated in Vigo County, and mar- 
ried there January 1, 1882, Miss Sarah Shanks. Two children have 
been born to their union, a son and daughter. The son is Clarence, who 
was educated in the common schools and graduated from Akers Business 
College at Terre Haute, Indiana. He is now doing well as an agricultur- 
ist in Edgar County, Illinois. He is a Republican, affiliated with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and Modern 
Woodmen of America, and with his wife is active in the Presbyterian 
Church. He married Miss Stella Harris and they have a daughter, 
Miriam. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Church is Mattie/who received 
a common school education and is a member of the Methodist Church. 
She is the wife of Arthur Epler, a farmer in Condit Township of Cham- 
paign County. Their two children are named Elmer and Helen. 

Mrs. Church was born in Vigo County, Indiana, December 16, }861, 
a daughter of George and Rachel (Hawkins) Shanks. She grew up in 
that locality, securing her advantages in the common schools, and has 
been a most capable helpmate and adviser to her husband. 

In 1884, when Mr. and Mrs. Church came to Champaign County, they 
located on land as renters and raised the fruits of the soil on land be- 
longing to others for several years. Mr. Church had a very limited 
capital when he came to this county, but hard work and economy on 
his part and the part of his wife have brought success in generous measure. 
At the present time the Church farm comprises eighty acres in Hensley 
Township, and its improvements rank it among the best places in this 
locality. They have remodeled the house and this farm together with 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 893 

another place of eighty acres in Edgar County stand as monuments to 
their industry, without a single dollar of indebtedness against them. 

Mr. Church is a Republican, and has always been a great admirer of 
Theodore Roosevelt. His fellow citizens have long regarded his position 
in the community as valuable from an official standpoint. While living 
in Condit Township he served three years as supervisor, resigning that 
office, and has been continuously supervisor of Hensley Township for the 
past fourteen years. This is the most important township office under 
the Illinois system of local government, and Mr. Church has made his 
official influence count in many ways. He is also director of his local 
school district, and has proved a steadfast friend of popular education. 
He is affiliated with Champaign Lodge No. 333 of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows at Champaign and is a charter member of Dewey Lodge 
of that order. Mrs. Church is active in the Royal Neighbors. Both 
have long been identified with the Mount Vernon Methodist Church in 
Hensley Township, of which Mr. Church is a trustee and teacher of the 
Young Men's Class in the Sunday School. 

The farm of Mr. and Mrs. Church is a fine tract of land in section 11. 
Its location makes its name, High View Farm, very appropriate. Besides 
general farming Mr. Church is much interested in good grades of live 
stock. His home is a place of good cheer and hospitality, and many 
friends have found a cordial welcome within its doors. 

WILLIAM HAYES. For many years some of the burdens of agricultural 
industry and business affairs have been carried by members of the Hayes 
family in Ogden Township. Mr. William Hayes is a young and progres- 
sive business man, manager of the local elevator at Ogden, and has also 
had practical experience from early boyhood as a farmer. 

Mr. Hayes was born at Ogden, February 8, 1881, son of John and 
Elizabeth (Huckin) Hayes. His father was a native of Ireland and his 
mother of England. They married in Indiana, and about fifty years 
ago came to Champaign County, where the father lived to develop a good 
farm and witness the magnificent transformation of the county from a 
prairie to a landscape that has been fitly characterized as a garden. In the 
family were six children, four sons and two daughters, William being the 
third in age. 

Mr. Hayes graduated from the Ogden High School in 1899. His boy- 
hood days were spent on the farm and at the age of twenty-one he married 
Miss Laura A. Green. She was born in Oakwood Township, daughter of 
Wilson and Julia (Fredrick) Green. She was educated in the Union 
district school. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes after their marriage moved to Ver- 
milion County, Indiana, and for six years farmed there. They then 
returned to Ogden and Mr. Hayes took charge of his father's homestead 
and the home of his youth. This farm consisted of 160 acres. After his 
parents died in Ogden he continued the management of the farm for a 
time and was then able to buy forty acres of the old home. He has since 
farmed this in general crops and live stock. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hayes have two sons, John, who is a student in the 
grammar schools of Ogden and in another year will enter high school, and 
William, the baby. For the past seven years, in addition to farming, Mr. 
Hayes has been a coal dealer at Ogden and is now manager of Supple's 
grain elevator in that town. 

The Hayes family have always been closely identified with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican and was practically 
born and reared in that party. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights 
of Pythias and the Masonic lodge. Mrs. Hayes is an active member of 



2 24 



894 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

the Eastern Star. Like the majority of Champaign County citizens, prog- 
ress has been the keynote of the Hayes family and they have manifested 
that spirit of push and energy that has brought about notable results. 

CECIL L. GOLDEN, present mayor of Sidney, has built up a large hard- 
ware business in that Champaign County town, and has proved himself 
one of the live and energetic factors in the civic community. Mr. 
Golden is a veteran of the Spanish-American War. 

He was born in Champaign County March 12, 1879, a son of Eugene S. 
and Mary E. (Mullen) Golden. His father was born in Menard County, 
Illinois, and his mother was a native of Pennsylvania. His father came 
to Champaign County when a young man, followed farming and after- 
wards engaged in the hardware business at Urbana. He was a merchant 
in that city for about sixteen years and then retired to Sidney, where he 
died October 4, 1913'. The widowed mother still lives at Sidney. They 
had five children. Leonard M., deceased; Archie S., a resident of Cham- 
paign County; George A., a farmer in Jefferson County, Illinois; Cecil L. 
and Ross Burr, deceased. 

Cecil L. Golden attended the public schools at Urbana, and then 
learned the trade of tinner in his father's store. At the age of nineteen 
he enlisted as a non-commissioned officer in Company M., organized in 
Champaign County for service in the Spanish-American War. He spent 
most of the period of his enlistment in concentration camps and was also 
for a time on duty in Cuba. After the war he followed farming three 
years, then went to work at his trade in Peoria. While there he was fore- 
man of the Twentieth Century Heating and Ventilating Company about 
two years. 

After his marriage Mr. Golden removed to Sidney and built a brick 
building 30x100 feet, which houses a very complete stock of general hard- 
ware implements and also furnishes quarters for the undertaking business. 

On April 25, 1905, Mr. Golden married Miss Edna Rado Jones, of 
Jefferson County, Illinois. They are the parents of two children, Karma 
Ellen, who was born November 2, 1907, and Stanley Jones, who died in 
early childhood. Mr. Golden is a Republican in politics and is now 
serving as a member of the Republican Committee. He was village 
treasurer of Sidney two years and is now mayor of the village and in that 
office has done much to influence wise and conservative improvement and 
economical handling of the municipal revenues. Mr. Golden is affiliated 
with the Masonic Order, being past master of Sidney Lodge, No 347, 
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 473, the Modern 
Woodmen of America, and he and his family worship in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

JOHN M. PETERS, who now lives retired in the village of St. Joseph, 
has exemplified above everything else that quality of permanence which 
enters into the best class of personal and national character. Mr. Peters 
was for sixty-five continuous years a resident of one place, the farm where 
he grew up as a boy and whose acres he tended so skillfully and diligently 
during his own active life. From the work of his hands and brain he has 
prospered, has reared useful children, and has made his name widely 
respected over his native county. 

Mr. Peters was born at Tipton, and lived in that rural locality until 
he came to St. Joseph a few years ago. He is a son of William and Sarah 
(McNutt) Peters. His parents were natives of Kentucky and came to 
Illinois at such an early period that his father was able to acquire 160 
acres of Government land at $1.25 an acre. Besides farming and devel- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 895 

oping his raw land he also operated a saw mill for many years, manu- 
factured much lumber, and was also a skillful cooper. He was a very 
successful and industrious man and at the time of his death owned an 
estate of 400 acres. He also served as justice of the peace for a long 
period and was widely known as Squire Peters. He educated his children 
in the old log schoolhouse which stood in his neighborhood, and it was 
in such a building that John M. Peters endured cold and other discomforts 
while learning his first lessons. 

In 1868 John M. Peters married Miss Elizabeth Wood. She was born 
in Ohio, daughter of John and Sarah Wood, who came to Tipton in Cham- 
paign County at an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Peters had five children, 
Sarah Isabel, Eva, Oliver and Otis (twins), and Orin. These children 
were given the advantages of the Swearingen district schools and all of 
them have made successful records in life. The daughter Sarah is now 
the wife of Frank McAdams, a farmer at Defiance, Ohio, and they have 
one son, John. Eva married Alfred Blaker, and they live west of St. 
Joseph, their four children being Charles, Roy, Ruby and Raymond. The 
son Otis lives at Fairmount in Vermilion County and by his marriage 
to Jessie Alexander has three children, Lyle, Raymond and Bessie. Orin 
is connected with the grain elevator at Sidney, Illinois. He married 
Bertha Watson and has two children, Gladys and Dwight. Oliver, unmar- 
ried, is now baggage master in the Big Four Depot at Champaign and 
is an energetic young man, possessing many friends and having a bright 
future. 

At the death of his father Mr. Peters inherited some of the estate and 
afterwards purchased more from the heirs, giving him a farm of 1071/2 
acres. That land he diligently and closely cultivated and from it gained 
that prosperity which enables him to spend his last years in comfort. 

On January 28, 1904, he was deprived of the companionship of his 
good wife and the mother of his children. On February 28, 1906, he 
married Mrs. Emily Cornelius. She was born near Troy in Miami County, 
Ohio, daughter of John S. and Mary C. (Day) Cox. Her father was a 
native of Ohio and her mother of Virginia, and in 1864, when Emily was 
nine years of age, the Cox family came to Illinois and settled near Fair- 
mount in Vermilion County. There her father engaged in farming, but 
later was a druggist at Fairmount and in 1870 continued the same busi- 
ness at Ogden in Champaign County. He lived at Ogden until his death. 
Emily acquired her education in the district schools and in the graded 
school at Fairmount. 

Mrs. Peters' first husband was William E. Cornelius. Of that union 
there are five children, Frank, Edna, Nell, Walter and Lela. These chil- 
dren were educated in the district schools. Frank married Mabel Mulroy 
and has one child, Clover Frances. Edna is the wife of Robert Strong, 
connected with the elevator at St. Joseph, and they have a son, Paul. 
Nell married John C. Loeffler, and her two children were Bernhardt and 
Elizabeth. The son Walter Cornelius is a resident of Rockford, Illinois, 
and by his marriage to Maud Brown has two sons, Raymond and Donald. 
The daughter Lela married Gus Loeffler, who is employed by a brick con- 
tractor, living at St. Joseph, and their one daughter, Emily, was named for 
her grandmother. 

Mrs. Peters has laid two of her children to rest, Frank and Nell, and 
that was the severest bereavement she has been called upon to suffer. Up 
to six years ago Mr. Peters was identified with general farming, and he 
and his wife then moved to the village of St. Joseph, the first move Mr. 
Peters had made in his life of sixty-five years. Most of his pleasant memo- 
ries of boyhood and of mature life are centered around the old home 



896 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

place at Tipton. Mr. Peters has never been called upon in vain for a 
proof of public spirit. For thirty-three years he served as school director, 
and has always been drainage commissioner. Besides farming he has been 
an expert carpenter, and has erected many buildings over this part of the 
county. Mr. and Mrs. Peters are members of the Christian Church and in 
politics he is a Democrat, while his wife was reared in sympathy with the 
Republican party. On moving to St. Joseph Mr. and Mrs. Peters bought 
a good home on Main Street and they live now in peace and comfort, happy 
in the fact that their children are well situated in homes of their own. 

Mr. Peters was the youngest in a family of thirteen children. He 
was reared to honesty and industry and has endeavored successfully to 
instill the same principles in his own household. He and his wife have 
made their home a most hospitable one, and they enjoy the complete 
confidence and esteem of a large community. Mr. Peters can look back 
to a time when Champaign County was without railroad transportation. 
In fact he went to Champaign to witness the arrival of the first engine 
over the Illinois Central Railway. He has accommodated himself to the 
marvelous advancement and progress of the time, and is now a careful 
and skillful driver of his own automobile. Several years ago a party 
came to him for the purpose of selling him a car and he finally accepted 
with the proviso that if the automobile people could teach him to run the 
machine he would buy. He meant what he said, proved an apt scholar 
in the mechanics and technique of automobile driving and has developed 
into a most skillful chauffeur and has absolute confidence in his own ability 
to get his car over the roads, his only fear being of the other man, that 
constant dread of the automobilist, the reckless driver. 

MRS. NANCY IRENE DOWNS. At no time in the world's history has 
the position of woman been so notable, not nrerely as a factor in the home 
but as a power in economic and political affairs and in that practical 
philanthropy which serves to soften somewhat the cruel actions of con- 
flicting nations. Champaign County has many noble women and there is 
every reason why special attention should be paid by this work to their 
achievements and lives. 

One of them is Mrs. Downs, who since the death of her honored hus- 
band has taken his place as a practical farmer and has done that in addi- 
tion to the responsibility of caring for and training a splendid family of 
children. Mrs. Downs resides in Newcomb Township on a fine estate and 
for years has been prominent in the church and social life of that com- 
munity. 

She is a native of Champaign County, born in a log cabin that stood 
two and a half miles east of her present home in Newcomb Township, 
August 1, 1860. She was the fifth in a family of thirteen children; six 
sons and seven daughters. Her parents were John H. and Elizabeth 
Ellen (Baily) Funston. Her father was an Ohio man, and the fact that 
General Fred Funston's family were also of Ohio makes it very possible 
that a family relationship existed there. Mrs. Downs is one of seven 
living children, and four of them are in Champaign County, she being 
the second in age. The oldest sister, Jennie, married John Trotter, a 
prosperous agriculturist. Mr. and Mrs. Trotter and their four children 
are all active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. George W. 
Funston is a retired resident of Champaign and married Martha Lanam, 
both being members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Cham- 
paign. Cora is the wife of Mark Hazen, of Champaign, and they are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church there. Of the children out- 
side of Champaign County, Edmund B. is a successful architect practic- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 897 

ing his profession at Racine, Wisconsin. He was educated in the Univer- 
sity of Illinois and made a splendid success in his calling. He married 
Miss Ella Kelphart, and they have one child, Jeannette. Jesse Grant, a 
graduate of the University of Illinois and an expert mechanic, lives at 
Vermillion, South Dakota. He married Miss Jinks Hume, and they 
have six children. They are also members of the Methodist Church. 
Minnie E., the youngest of the living children, is the wife of W. L. Hart, 
a wholesale ice cream dealer at St. Louis, Missouri. They have two sons 
and are Methodists. 

John H. Punston was born in Ross County, Ohio, February 29, 1828. 
He died May 25, 1903. He grew up in his native state, having- the advan- 
tage of the common schools and became an architect and cabinetmaker. 
About 1851 he came to Illinois, locating in Piatt County. He had no 
money, and though he found himself among strangers he soon gained the 
confidence of his community and found plenty of work at his trade. For 
several years he lived at Monticello, and the year he married he located in 
a log cabin in Newcomb Township in 1857, the same house where Mrs. 
Downs first saw the light of day. Mr. Funston was diligent at his busi- 
ness and therefore gained a substantial success in life. At his death he 
owned more than 400 acres of the rich land of Newcomb Township. For 
a number of years he had combined farming with his trade as cabinet 
maker. In the early days he was called upon to make many of the 
coffins for the bufial of the dead. Mrs. Downs frequently aided her 
father in making caskets. He was also very progressive and enterprising. 
It was his distinction to own the first mower, the first self binder and the 
first corn planter in the township. The old log cabin home of the Fun- 
stons in Newcomb Township was a place of very meager comforts. There 
were no glass windows and light was admitted through greased paper. 
There was not even a board floor, and the bare ground, packed hard, 
furnished footing and Mrs. Downs as an infant played about on the dirt 
floor of this humble abode. John H. Funston was not only a successful 
man in business but a leader in the community and in its spiritual and 
moral uplift. He was one of the founders of the Shiloh Methodist 
Episcopal Church and for years was one of the officials. A substantial 
monument in Riverside cemetery marks his last resting place. His wife 
was born in Ohio, in Madison County, November 26, 1832, and died Sep- 
tember 3, 1895. She moved with her parents to Piatt County, Illinois, 
about 1857 and soon afterwards married and located in Newcomb Town- 
ship. She was the oldest of twelve children, her parents being John 
and Mary (Hubbard) Baily. She proved herself a loving and affectionate 
mother and devoted the best energies of her life to her family. 

Mrs. Downs had an interesting childhood and girlhood in Champaign 
County. The first school she attended was a more or less exact copy of 
the primitive schoolhouse which has become so celebrated in song and 
story of the early times. The slab benches had no backs and she can 
testify to the fact that it was exceedingly tiresome to sit upon one of these 
benches for any length of time. The first book put in her hands was a 
little green primer. She has never forgotten her first lessons in school. 
Her first instruction was to memorize a stanza of poetry and the words of 
that little poem have never escaped her. They are as follows : 
"Oh mother may I go to school with brother Charles today? 
The air is very soft and cool, do, mother, say I may. 
Well, little Mary, you may go if you will keep quite still, 
'Tis wrong to make a noise, you know, I do not think you will." 

Miss Funston grew up in the home of her parents in Newcomb Town- 
ship, and on December 19, 1880, she became the happy bride of the late 



898 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Woodrow Downs. Mr. and Mrs. Downs became the parents of fifteen 
children, ten sons and five daughters. Thirteen of them are. still living. 
It is a splendid family record. Dwight, the oldest, was educated in the 
common schools and is a practical agriculturist at Clyde, North Dakota. 
He married Miss Maud Lott and their four children are Eollo, Mary, 
Elsie and Josephine. Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Downs helped build the first 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Clyde, North Dakota. Mettie, the second 
child, was educated in the Fisher High School, with the class of 1904, and 
is still living with her mother, and she has taught school successfully 
in this county. Elizabeth was graduated from the Fisher High School in 
1905 and is still at home. She is a member of the Domestic Science Club 
of Mahomet. Woodrow was educated in the common schools and is now 
following agriculture near Baker, Montana. He is a member of the Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America and married Miss Anna Becker. Pearl had a 
common school education and is now doing much of the work of the home 
farm for his mother. Bernice graduated from the Mahomet High School 
with the class of 1913, taught two years in this county, and is still at home. 
John Isaac had a common school education and two years in the high 
school at Mahomet and is now connected with a large automobile firm at 
Alma, Michigan. Nannie had two years in the Mahomet High School and 
is now the wife of E. J. Hammell, an agriculturist of Newcomb Township. 
They have a daughter, Mary Louise. Jesse Glenn, still at home, is attend- 
ing high school at Fisher. Don Edmund has finished the common school 
course and in 1917 received his diploma from the Rakes Automobile and 
Tractor School at Kansas City, Missouri, and is now a very expert mechanic 
and thoroughly competent to handle all kinds of automobile and tractor 
machinery. Melvin is in the seventh grade of the common schools; Leslie 
S. is also in the seventh grade of the Fisher school and Carrol Newton, the 
3'oungest, is in the third grade. 

Great credit is due Mrs. Downs for the way she has reared her children 
and the unusual advantages she has afforded them both at home and in 
school. 

The late Mr. Downs was born in Logan County, near North Lewis- 
burg, Ohio, February 27, 1852. He grew up there until he was fifteen 
and then came to Champaign County. He had the advantages of the 
common schools and early took up agriculture as his vocation. With the 
aid of his good wife, who stood constantly by him in practical assistance 
and in counsel and advice, he was highly prospered and stood high in 
community esteem. This esteem was well manifested at the time of his 
death on December 17, 1912, when it was generally felt throughout New- 
comb Township that one of its ablest and best men had passed away. 
He is now at rest in the Shiloh cemeter/, where Mrs. Downs has erected 
a monument to his memory. Mr. Downs was a Republican, and in a 
public way served as a justice of the peace and town clerk and for twenty- 
five years was a director of the public schools. He had the. good of his 
community at heart and was always willing to work for the raising of 
standards and improvement of the locality. He was a devout member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church and served as superintendent of the 
Sunday school. His parents and grandparents were Quakers. 

For years Mrs. Downs has been foremost in all the good work of her 
township and particularly in her church, with which she is officially iden- 
tified. She is also one of the teachers of the Sunday school. Mrs. 
Downs has given liberally of her means to the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal 
Church, of which her father was one of the founders. This church stands 
just across the road from Mrs. Downs' residence. The handsome and 
modern edifice was dedicated May 13, 1917, at a cost of $9,000. There 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 899 

was still a deficit of $1,850 at the time of dedication and the members of 
the church at once subscribed $2,700, nearly $1,000 more than enough 
to pay off all indebtedness. 

Mrs. Downs still lives on her farm of 270 acres in Newcomb Township. 
It is a splendid place, and for a number of years has been known as the 
home of some very fine Shire horses. It bears the title of Willow Brook 
Farm, but has long been known as the Pancake Point Farm, due to the 
fact that members of the Pancake family entered the land from the gov- 
ernment. 

Mrs. Downs has taken pleasure, recreation and additional means of 
culture from travel. She has visited many of the states in the Union, 
including the Dakotas, and has been through Canada. She has a fine 
home, many friends, and her high place in the community is not difficult 
to understand. 

DAVID MADDOCK, who died in 1909, was a citizen of the type and vir- 
tues who should long be remembered not only among his descendants but 
by all who find encouragement and inspiration in a life of practical utility 
and a devotion to the best interests of mankind. 

Mr. Maddock lived in Champaign County for nearly half a century. 
He was born near West Elkton, Ohio, a son of Eli and Absillit (Wood- 
ward) Maddock. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother of 
North Carolina. When David was a young man, after he had obtained 
his education in the district schools, the family moved to Illinois and went 
through the experiences of pioneers on a farm in Vermilion County and 
later in Champaign County. 

On February 21, 1861, David Maddock married Jane H. Mills. Mrs. 
Maddock, who is now living in the village of St. Joseph, gave him the 
inspiration of her presence and her companionship for nearly half a 
century. She is a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Mendenhall) Mills, 
both of whom were born in Tennessee. They first moved to Ohio and 
later to Vermilion County, Illinois. Mrs. Maddock completed her educa- 
tion in the old Vermilion Seminary near Vermilion Grove. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Maddock located five miles north of 
St. Joseph, where they bought 160 acres at $10 an acre. It was all virgin 
prairie, not a tree in sight, and it was possible to see over the prairies as 
far as Rantoul. They bought this home in 1865 and went through all the 
hardships and inconveniences devolved in making a good farm there. 
Later, in order to educate their children, Mr. and Mrs. Maddock moved 
to Indiana, and lived in that state for fifteen years. 

Their six children were Oliver W., John M., Cora Ellen, William E., 
Anna E. and Emma J. They received their first advantages in the Stanton 
District School No. 4 and afterwards attended the Quaker school known 
as Bloomingdale Academy in Indiana. From the first Mr. and Mrs. 
Maddock endeavored to give their children every possible advantage. The 
three younger children completed their education in the famous old Quaker 
school, Earlham College, at Richmond, Indiana. 

The oldest of the children, Oliver W., is a farmer three and a half miles 
north of St. Joseph. He married Lutora Thompkins, and their children 
are Edward W., Clifton, Earl, Lowell and Russell. Of these Edward and 
Clifton were educated in the St. Joseph High School, while Earl spent 
two years in the special study of agriculture in the University of Illinois. 
Earl is a successful farmer, and has been honored with the position of 
deacon in the New Light Church. 

The son John M. is in the jewelry business at Manhattan, Kansas. 
He married Grace Lamb, and their only child, Ralph, is now in the new 



900 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

National Army as a soldier. The daughter Cora Ellen is the wife of 
Charles Digby, and their home is at Charleston, Illinois. Their four 
children are Loren, Clara E., Paul and Charles. William E. is a school 
superintendent at Butte, Montana. He married Lida Shobe and has two 
daughters, Margaret and Helen. Anna E. is the wife of Dr. W. W. Pretts 
of Platteville, Wisconsin. Their three children are Elizabeth, Mary and 
William. The youngest of the children, Emma J., is the wife of Eev. 
Clarence Burkholder of Alpena, Michigan. They have a family of five 
children : Evelyn, Irene, Clarence E., Lucile and Henry. 

After the education of their children was finished in Indiana, Mr. and 
Mrs. Maddock returned to Champaign County, lived in the village of St. 
Joseph eighteen months, and then went back to their old farm. They 
erected a fine new home and surrounded themselves with every comfort that 
goes with modern rural life. Mr. Maddock always took an active interest 
in his church, served it as overseer and Sunday school superintendent, and 
was a man of public spirit in every sense of the word. He was school 
director, township treasurer, town clerk and commissioner, and the last 
work of his life was in connection with the schools. He and his wife had 
driven to St. Joseph to look after some school matters, and after they 
returned home that evening he was stricken with a pain about his heart 
and died of neuralgia before 1 o'clock the next morning. Mrs. Maddock 
after the death of her beloved companion remained on the home farm 
until 1916, when she bought an attractive home on Main Street in the 
village of St. Joseph, where she now lives surrounded with good neighbors 
and with many friends, and with an unclouded retrospect over the past 
she looks forward to the future with anticipation and a hope born of a 
true Christian life. 

ROY YOUNGBLOOD, present assessor of Sidney Township, is a progres- 
sive young business man of that village. He began his career with limited 
capital and from employment by others has worked into a profitable busi- 
ness of his own. 

He was born at Sidney, Illinois, December 23, 1880, and is a son of 
William H. and Savilla (Lucas) Youngblood. His father was born in 
Logansport, Indiana, and his mother in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. His 
father, who is still living at Sidney, is an honored veteran of the Civil 
War. He served almost throughout that great conflict, part of the time 
in the Thirty-fifth and part of the time in the Twenty-fifth Illinois 
Infantry. As a result of the explosion of a caisson he became totally 
blind. He and his wife had six children: James, of Normal, Illinois; 
Anna, wife of William Eaton, of Sidney ; Elizabeth, wife of T. L. Dalton, 
of Sidney; Howard, of Sidney; Grace, deceased; and Roy. 

Roy Youngblood grew up in his native village, attended the local 
schools, and after finishing a course in the Indianapolis Business College 
in 1900 he returned to his home town and became assistant cashier and 
bookkeeper in the State Bank. He served faithfully in that capacity 
four years and then made an opportunity for a'business of his own as a 
restaurant proprietor. He conducts a model establishment and has a fine 
trade. 

On September 26, 1906, Mr. Youngblood married Leslie Yeazel, a 
native of St. Joseph Township of Champaign County. Mr. and Mrs. 
Youngblood have three children: Mary, Milton and Mildred, the latter 
two twins. Politically Mr. Youngblood has always acted in the Republi- 
can party and is influential in its councils. Besides his present office BS 
township assessor, in which he is serving his second term, he is an alder- 
man of the village, and was formerly village treasurer. In fraternal 
matters he is a Mason. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 901 

J. W. BENSTL, whose home is an attractive place just east of Urbana, 
enjoys the honor and respect of all the people of Champaign County, par- 
ticularly for the valiant service he rendered as a soldier of the Civil War. 
Mr. Bensyl was in the army for over four years, and his subsequent life and 
activities have been of a piece with the loyalty and devotion he showed his 
country in time of stress. 

Mr. Bensyl was born at Danville, Illinois, November 23, 1839, a son of 
John and Elizabeth (Corray) Bensyl. Both parents were natives of Ohio. 
Elizabeth Corray, a daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Corray, was born in 
that state January 29, 1820. John Bensyl was born in Pickaway County, 
Ohio, December 5, 1808, a son of John and Mary Bensyl. John and Eliza- 
beth Bensyl were married December 27, 1838, before a justice of the 
peace, Walter Eoads. John Bensyl died January 23, 1844. J. W. Bensyl 
was one of two children. His sister, Mary Matilda, was born January 27, 
1842, and died in Nevada. 

The Bensyl family were pioneer settlers in eastern Illinois and the 
parents were married at Danville. John Bensyl took part as a soldier 
in the Black Hawk Indian War of 1832, a brief campaign in which many 
men had their first experience in military affairs. It will be recalled 
that Abraham Lincoln was captain of a company in that war. John 
Bensyl enlisted twice during the war. He was first under Captain James 
Farmer and afterwards under Captain Jesse B. Brown. Mr. Bensyl has 
in his possession the discharge papers of his father, dated June 23, 1832. 
This discharge states that John Bensyl carried the thanks and gratitude 
of his commanding officer, which is high evidence of his soldierly quali- 
ties. John Bensyl was a very active man, was of medium height, five feet 
ten inches, had a fair complexion, gray eyes and dark hair. 

After the death of his father J. W. Bensyl's mother married James 
Springer and removed to northeastern Missouri. The half brothers of 
Mr. Bensyl are: J. E. Springer of Urbana Township; William I. 
Springer, deceased; and Thomas Springer of Salt Lake, Utah. J. W. 
Bensyl lived in Missouri from the age of ten until he was nineteen. He 
had obtained his first school advantages in the old Bromley School, where 
his first teacher was George Hoyt. Later he attended the St. Joseph 
School, where his teacher was Armstrong Rankin. 

J. W. Bensyl was not twenty-one years of age when the Civil War 
broke out. He soon caught the enthusiasm and desired to enlist with the 
first call for three months' troops. However, he deferred on account of 
his mother's objection. His mother at that time was in poor health, and 
on October 16, 1861, she passed away. After she was laid to rest the 
young man felt that his duty had been done by granting her wish, and 
that nothing stood in the way' of his service to his country, which was so 
sorely in need of brave men. On the 25th of October, 1861, he enlisted 
in Somer Township in Company I of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry, a gallant 
organization in which he did his full share of hardships and duty. The 
regiment was first ordered to Cairo, then was sent back to Camp Butler at 
Springfield, thence to Quincy, Illinois, to Benton Barracks at St. Louis, 
and from there sent into southwestern Missouri, being quartered during 
the summer at Sand Springs on guard duty, twenty miles from Springfield. 
During the next winter the regiment was at Brownsville, Arkansas, and 
in the spring was sent on to New Orleans, to Little Rock, and about 
that time the term of enlistment having expired, Mr. Bensyl re-enlisted. 
He and his comrades were granted a thirty days' furlough, which they 
spent at home and at Springfield, Illinois, where the ladies of the town 
entertained the soldier boys most royally, giving them a reception which 
they appreciated the more because of their long experience in camp life. 



902 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

From Springfield, Illinois, the regiment was again sent South to 
Nashville, Tennessee, and to Little Rock, Arkansas, where their arms and 
horses were restored for duty. On first entering the service the members 
of the Tenth Illinois Cavalry had furnished their own horses, but at the 
second enlistment the Government furnished their mounts. 

The Tenth Illinois Cavalry of which Mr. Bensyl was a member was 
recruited in the fall of 1861, was mustered into service at Camp Butler, 
and was discharged from service at the same place January 6, 1866, after 
four years, two months and seventeen days. It participated in the follow- 
ing notable engagements : Cane Hill, Clark's Mills, Niauqua Creek, Prai- 
rie Grove, Van Buren, Cotton Plant, Arkansas Post, Little Rock, Bayou 
Des Arc, Vicksburg and Mobile. 

Mr. Bensyl was first discharged from service January 2, 1864, at Little 
Rock. At that time his captain was the gallant George L. Snelling. Dur- 
ing his first enlistment he served as corporal. His second discharge was 
dated November 22, 1865, at San Antonio, Texas. He came out of the 
army with the rank of sergeant. His second captain had been William H. 
Coffman. Thus Mr. Bensyl was in the army four years, two months and 
ten days. Not long after he returned to Illinois he went to farming, 
and on September 25, 1870, married Armilda Brownfield. Mrs. Bensyl 
was born in Somer Township of Champaign County, a daughter of Ben- 
jamin and Lavina (Hayes) Brownfield. The Brownfield family consisted 
of four children and with her brothers and sisters Mrs. Bensyl attended 
the district schools. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bensyl went to Martin County, Min- 
nesota, where they remained two years engaged in fanning. Returning to 
Illinois, they settled in Somer Township on land which had been part of 
Mrs. Bensyl's father's estate and a portion of which she had inherited. 
Here they began building their permanent home, and in time they bought 
the interests of the other heirs and had a well improved farm of eighty 
acres. 

Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bensyl, two of whom died 
in infancy. The only daughter, Kathryn, was educated in the home dis- 
trict schools and the Urbana High School, and after reaching young 
womanhood married Charles U. Ross. Mr. Ross had formerly been a 
resident of Urbana, but at that time was engaged in business at Okla- 
homa City. The wedded life of these two young people was brief. At 
the end of sixteen months Mr. Ross passed away. Thus left alone in 
her widowhood, Kathryn returned to the home of her parents at Urbana 
and has lived with them ever since. 

Eighteen years ago Mr. and Mrs. Bensyl left their farm and moved to 
Urbana, residing there six years. They then sought a home near Urbana, 
where they acquired a small tract of ground just east of the city and 
built themselves a most commodious and modern home. The home is 
located close to the interurban line, and they thus enjoy the conveniences 
of the city and the comfort and quiet of the country. Uncle Sam delivers 
their mail every day, and with telephone and electric light they are able 
to enjoy the scriptural injunction to eat and drink and enjoy the work of 
their hands. 

The family are active members of the Christian Church at Urbana. 
Mr. Bensyl has served his community as school director and school trustee, 
and politically has always voted in line with the principles that led him 
to serve his country in the dark days of the '60s. The Republican party 
has meant to him the greatest political organization in the world and the 
source of the best laws America has ever had. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bensyl have witnessed many of the interesting changes 
and developments as a result of which Champaign County has become a 




ELDEK Row, GRAIN AND STOCK FARM 

A. C. McELWEE 




MR. AND MRS. A. C. MCELWEE AND CHILDREN 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 903 

garden spot of the world. He recalls a time when the town of Urbana 
consisted of only a few buildings and the country around was a scene of 
waving prairie grass and sloughs. The original log jail was standing in 
Urbana when Mr. Bensyl first came to the county. On a farm that after- 
wards belonged to Mrs. Bensyl a man named Weaver, while under the 
influence of liquor, shot and killed a Mr. Hildebrand. Weaver was arrested 
and confined in the old jail at Urbana, and after trial was sentenced to be 
hanged. The night before the morning set for the execution he broke 
out of jail and was never apprehended. It was said that he went to 
Wisconsin, where his family joined him, and he spent his last years there. 

Thus the main facts have been recited in the career of a worthy Cham- 
paign County citizen who as a youth marched away with the boys in blue 
to save the Union from disintegration and after more than four years of 
fighting returned home to enjoy the fruits of peace and take his place 
among those who were fighting for the victories of civilization. More 
than ever today the world realizes how much the victorious boys of the 
'60s contributed by their brave efforts to the well being of not only this 
nation but of the world, since it was the results of their sacrifices that 
made it possible for the allies to appeal for help to the United States and 
thus preserve the rights and liberties of freedom everywhere from the 
encroachment of monarchy and despotism. 

A. C. McELWEE. The township of St. Joseph has some of the best 
farms in Champaign County, and one that at once attracts attention by 
its well tilled fields and splendid improvements is the Elder Eow Grain 
and Stock Farm, the proprietor of which is A. C. McElwee. 

Back in 1856, more than sixty years ago, his grandfather, C. J. McElwee, 
acquired 120 acres. It was raw and unimproved and largely became a 
farm under his efforts. That was the foundation and nucleus of the 
Elder Eow Grain and Stock Farm. Oddly enough, the land has not been 
retained in the family possession by the usual method of inheritance, but 
always by purchase from one member or one generation of the family from 
another. Thus what one generation developed has been taken by the next 
succeeding and every year has witnessed increasing value and care and 
management. 

Mr. A. C. McElwee, the present proprietor of this fine farm, was born 
in Fountain County, Indiana, December 27, 1864, a son of Leonard C. 
and Anna M. (Simmons) McElwee. Leonard C. McElwee was born in 
Lancaster County, Permsylvania, November 3, 1837. His wife was born 
in Ohio, and they were married in Fountain County, Indiana. Leonard C. 
McElwee for many years combined the vocation of school teacher with that 
of farmer, teaching country schools in winter terms. He and his wife had 
a family of six children, three sons and three daughters, A. C. being the 
youngest son. The latter was educated largely in the Bowers District School 
in St. Joseph Township, his parents having moved to that township in 
1874. The mother died there in 1899, and the father survived until 1915. 

On May 13, 1890, A. C. McElwee married Miss Julia A. Green, who 
was born three miles east of Danville, Illinois, a daughter of William and 
Sarah (Davidson) Green. Both her parents were natives of Illinois, the 
Green family having come from Ohio and the Davidsons from Virginia. 
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McElwee settled on the J. S. Kilbury 
farm not far from Burr Oak Grove. They lived there eight years, leasing 
land and farming. At the end of that time Mr. McElwee bought the old 
home place from his father. His mother in the meantime had died, and 
his father desired to leave the farm. Here the young couple have made 
their permanent home, and with industry and intelligence have done 



904 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

much to improve their lot in life and better the circumstances of the family 
in general. The Elder Row Grain and Stock Farm now comprises 248 
acres. Mr. McElwee has constructed a fine and commodious home, a large 
assortment of fruit trees has been set out, and the place indicates even to 
the casual observer the evidence of intelligent farming. Mr. McElwee has 
found mixed farming the most profitable plan and combines the raising of 
grain crops with good stock. He keeps graded Shorthorn cattle, Belgian 
horses, and his chief field crops are oats, corn and some wheat and clover. 
Some years he threshed as much as 6,000 bushels of oats and gathered 8,000 
bushels of corn. 

Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. McElwee: Floyd L., 
Florence Ruby (deceased), Harry G. and Albert C. The education of 
these children was carefully looked after both at home and in the local 
district schools. The son Floyd L. is a successful young farmer and lives 
on part of his father's estate. He married Lucile Warnick of Bloomfield, 
Indiana, and they have two children, Rowena Laverne and Dorothy Florence. 
Mr. McElwee very wisely provided location and opportunity for his son, 
and their interests are mutual and each is assisting the other in the work. 
Thus Mr. McElwee not only has the satisfaction of having his son near 
him, but also in seeing his grandchildren grow up around him. Mr. and 
Mrs. McElwee are active members of the United Brethren Church of Union 
in Ogden Township, and Mr. McElwee is one of its trustees. In politics he 
is an ardent supporter of the Republican party, and it is his firm belief 
that this party has done more for the welfare of the country than any 
other organization. Mr. McElwee is interested in the local schools, has 
served as school director for fourteen years, and has also been ditch com- 
missioner. He and his wife have contributed not a little to the upbuilding 
and growth of Champaign County during the many years of their residence 
here. 

CLARENCE A. RICE. Some highly developed farms lie along rural 
route No. 56 in Philo Township, and one of them is the place of Clarence 
A. Rice, which is in section 24. Mr. Rice has given a good account of 
his energies and ability and deserves to rank well to the front among the 
farming men of one of the richest agricultural sections of the Middle West. 

He was born in Bureau County, Illinois, April 7, 1861, a son of Sam- 
uel D. and Kate (Bergstra) Rice. His father was born in Massachusetts 
and his mother in New York State. It was in 1856 that Samuel D. Rice 
came West, first locating in Iowa and about two years later moving to 
Bureau County, Illinois. In 1881 he came from Bureau County to Cham- 
paign County and established his home in section 24 of Philo Township. 
He was successfully identified with farming in that locality until his 
death on December 23, 1914. His good wife and the mother of his only 
child died in 1863. 

Clarence A. Rice grew up in his father's home, attended both the 
common and high schools, and for many years was associated with his 
father in the management of the fine farm in Philo Township. He is now 
individually the owner of 185 acres in section 24 and devotes it to general 
farming and stock raising. 

On March 4, 1886, Mr. Rice married Carrie Hazen. Their two chil- 
dren, Katherine G. and Nathan L., have been afforded every advantage at 
home and in school and are now students in the State University at 
Urbana. Mr. Rice is a Republican in politics and is now serving as 
treasurer of his township school. He and his wife are members of the 
Presbyterian Church. 

The pretty estate of Mr. and Mrs. Rice is known as "Belle Vue," 
and it is the abode of hospitality and good cheer. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 905 

MATISON F. DUNN has spent a long and productive career as an agri- 
culturist in St. Joseph Township, and for the last two years has lived retired 
from farming in the village of St. Joseph, and has conducted a very success- 
ful real estate enterprise. 

Mr. Dunn is a native of Champaign County, having been born on a 
farm in St. Joseph Township, February 9, 1868, a son of Zephaniah M. 
and Elizabeth (Mapes) Dunn. His father was a native of Kentucky and 
his mother of Maryland. Zephaniah Dunn, who was born in 1831, was 
only two years of age when his parents migrated to Illinois and settled near 
Urbana among the 'few families then resident there in 1833. Thus the 
Dunns shared in the experiences typical of the country and described as 
pertaining to the early decade of the '30s. Zephaniah grew up in these 
pioneer conditions, and during his youth he worked for Mr, Busey, one of 
the prominent farmers of the day, for wages of only 25 cents per day. 
Zephaniah Dunn had a family of eight children, six sons and two daugh- 
ters, all of whom were educated in the district school known as the Patterson 
School. 

Matison Dunn after reaching his majority married Laura M. Berkshire, 
daughter of Jesse B. and Ida (Hawley) Berkshire. His marriage was the 
signal for the beginning of an industrious and active career as a farmer. 
For some years he rented eighty acres of land, but was not destined to 
remain long in that condition of semi-dependence. Prosperity has con- 
tinued to smile upon him and his labors as an agriculturist had their due 
reward. A number of years ago Mr. Dunn bought 120 acres in Paulding 
County, Ohio, 240 acres in Minnesota, and at the death of his father became 
heir to 100 acres in St. Joseph Township. 

By his first marriage Mr. Dunn had three children, Grace E., Ida M. 
and Arley 0. These children, except Ida, who died at the age of three 
years and eight months, were educated in the St. Joseph High School. 
Grace married Carl E. Murphy, who lives at Richmond, Indiana, and is 
employed as interlocking tower man with the Pennsylvania Railway Com- 
pany. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy have four daughters, Mildred, Gertrude, 
Louise and Esther. Arley 0. Dunn is a locomotive fireman with the Chi- 
cago & Eastern Illinois, living at Danville. He married Hazel Davidson, 
and they have a daughter, Lavone, aged four years. 

This little family household endured a heavy loss in the death of the 
good wife and mother on January 6, 1896. Later Mr. Dunn married Nora 
(Stewart) McCormick, widow of John McCormick. By her first marriage 
she had two children, Ollie M. and Mabel F. McCormick. Ollie is the 
wife of Banks Lambdin of Fisher, Illinois, and has, a son and daughter 
named Fred and Marie. Mabel married Paul M. Freeman, an employe in 
the Big Four Railway shops at Urbana, and their family consists of two 
small boys, Donald M. and Stanley F. 

By their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Dunn have a son and daughter, 
Lowell M. and Thelma Lavone. These children have been educated in the 
St. Joseph High School. 

Throughout all these years Mr. Dunn has been successfully engaged in 
farming and stock growing, but in 1913 he left the active supervision of 
ILe farm and moved to the village of St. Joseph, where he erected a fine 
residence on Sixth Street and has done much to improve and beautify the 
home and grounds. While living in the country Mr. Dunn was noted as 
one of the men who could get the most out of a given acreage and with 
a given capital, and the same success has followed him to St. Joseph as a 
real estate man. He is engaged in that business as partner of his cousin, 
John B. Dunn. 

In politics Mr. Dunn is a Republican and he and his wife are active 



906 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

members and liberal supporters of the St. Joseph Christian Church. He 
is one of the trustees of the church. Fraternally he is affiliated with the 
Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen order, and Mrs. Dunn is a Pythian 
Sister. 

Such are the principal facts in the history of one of the fine families of 
Champaign County. Mrs. Dunn is a most excellent wife and home maker 
and has encouraged her husband and performed a worthy part by her 
children. 

OEIE A. COOK, D. V. M. The important responsibilities of carrying on 
the world's work are devolving upon younger men in every generation. It 
is the young men who furnish the enthusiasm and energy to industry and 
business and also to the professions. One of the young professional men 
of Fisher is Dr. 0. A. Cook, a young veterinarian who has quickly gained 
the confidence and esteem of his patrons in veterinary surgery and is well 
deserving of that confidence. 

He is a native of Ford County, Illinois, born April 11, 1894. His 
parents are Carvosso W. and Elma (Arnold) Cook. There were seven 
children, five, sons and two daughters, in the family, and four are still 
living. Carvosso Cook was born in Indiana, was educated in the common 
schools, and his life has been successfully spent as an agriculturist, 
though for a short time he was a dealer in drugs. From Indiana he re- 
moved to Livingston County, Illinois, and later to Ford County, which has 
been his home for many years. His first purchase of land was eighty 
acres and after disposing of that he bought forty acres and still later 
160 acres, and having accumulated a fine property of 200 acres of fine land 
in Ford County is now well deserving of the comforts which surround his 
retirement. In politics he is a Eepublican and is a member of the 
Modern Woodmen of America. He and his wife own a good property in 
Roberts, where they now reside. Doctor Cook's mother is a native of New 
York State and was educated in the public schools. She worships in the 
Congregational Church. 

Doctor Cook was reared in Ford County and had a common school 
education. As a boy his inclinations were plainly manifest for the pro- 
fession of veterinary surgery and in 1913 he entered the Chicago Vet- 
erinary College, where he was graduated with high standing in a class of 
ninety-two in 1917. Prior to his graduation he had selected his future 
location in the great agricultural belt of the world, Champaign County, 
and has already acquired a good practice at Fisher and over the county 
at large. He located there in April, 1917. This part of the country has 
the best class of draft and work horses in the state. 

Doctor Cook's office is located in the center of the business district and 
is thoroughly equipped with the most modern surgical instruments, while 
his laboratory has a stock of the purest of drugs and medicines. His 
equine sanitarium is as well equipped as any in the largest cities. Doctor 
Cook is an affable, cordial and genial gentleman and has those qualities 
which make him socially popular as well as the thorough ability which 
merits the confidence shown in his judgment and skill as a professional 
man. His practice has already extended over the northwestern part of 
Champaign County' and even to Rantoul. His equipment of instruments 
and drugs represent an investment of fully seven hundred dollars. He 
is always prompt and ready to answer calls for service and has his own 
automobile to take him quickly to any farm in this part of the county. 

Doctor Cook keeps in touch with all the latest points of his profession 
and has his library well stocked with medical journals as well as a complete 
collection of the best authors on the science of veterinary surgery. He is 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 907 

extremely well fortified to pursue his chosen work in Champaign County 
and the prosperous and promising beginning he has made of his pro- 
fessional career well justifies placing his record in a conspicuous place in 
this publication. 

WILLIAM L. YANCEY. The various items in the career of William L. 
Yancey show that he is one of Champaign County's farmers who have 
made more than an ordinary success, and that while acquiring material 
prosperity he has not neglected those public interests which claim his atten- 
tion in common with all good citizens. Though he started life compara- 
tively a poor man, he now has a farm in Mahomet Township which is 
easily among the best in that section. He is a native son of Champaign 
County and his record is such that everywhere his word is considered as 
good as his bond. 

His birth occurred June 19, 1864. He was the younger of two children, 
his only sister being now deceased. His parents were Laten and Margaret 
(Everett) Yancey. His father was born in Lewis County, Kentucky, was 
reared and educated there, and was an early day arrival in Champaign 
County. He made settlement near the old Middletown postoffice, now 
Mahomet, and industriously pursued the career of farmer there the rest of 
his days. His remains now rest in the Eiverside Cemetery, and his wife 
is also deceased. He was a Jeffersonian Democrat, a member of the 
Masonic order and both he and his wife were active in the Baptist Church. 
The Yancey family has long been identified with American history, and 
some of the earlier members served with credit as soldiers in the Revolu- 
tionary War. 

William L. Yancey grew up on his father's farm in Champaign County 
and attended the Mahomet schools. When about nineteen years of age he 
started out to achieve his own success in life, and being without cash 
capital he made his start as a renter. Later he married, and with the 
aid of a competent wife has made a complete success. His first purchase 
of land was 153 acres, thirty-five acres in Newcomb Township and the rest 
in Mahomet. Mr. Yancey has managed his farming activities in a way 
to bring prosperity and to serve as a stimulating example in the handling 
of a farm. He has always taken just pride in his blooded sheep, and that 
is one of the chief features of his farm. The various improvements on his 
farm have been made by his own efforts. 

Mr. Yancey married Miss Kate Scott. Of their three children, one 
son and two daughters, two are living. Harlow, the only son, was educated 
in the Mahomet High School and is a practical agriculturist now in charge 
of his father's farm. He is independent in politics and is a member of 
the Modern Woodmen of America at Mahomet. Wilma, the only surviving 
daughter, is a graduate of the Mahomet public schools and was successfully 
engaged in teaching in this county before her marriage to Mr. Guy Jones. 
Mr. Jones is an expert automobile mechanic and lives in Mahomet Town- 
ship. Mrs. Jones is a member of the Baptist Church. 

Mrs. Yancey was born in Mahomet Township and she has a twin 
sister, Sarah, now living in St. Louis. Mrs. Yancey was educated in the 
common schools and is an active member of the Baptist Church. Mr. 
Yancey is a Democrat in national affairs, but has very frequently exercised 
his choice of candidate according to the dictates of his personal judgment. 
The local schools have always received a generous share of his time and 
attention, and for a number of years he acted as director of the school in 
Newcomb Township. He has passed all the chairs in the lodge of Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows at Mahomet and is a member of the Court 
of Honor. He has long held the position of deacon in the Baptist 



908 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Church, and has cordially supported every worthy movement of benev- 
olence and the general welfare of his community. 

JAMES Louis EDWARDS. One of the comfortable country homes of 
Philo Township, a place adding to the distinctive character of prosperity 
and well ordered enterprise in that section, is the Edwards place, now 
occupied by James Louis Edwards, who acquired it from his father, 
George Edwards. The Edwards family has been identified with Cham- 
paign County for over half a century. James Louis Edwards is unmarried 
and with his sister Anna looks after the management of the farm and they 
keep house together. 

Mr. Edwards was born on the old homestead in section 18 of Philo 
Township in 1867, a son of George and Susan C. (Andrews) Edwards. 
His father was born in England and his mother in Baltimore, Maryland. 
The family came to Champaign County in 1865, locating in that year in 
section 18 of Philo Township. Land that was then only raw prairie was 
converted by the united efforts of the family into a fine and prosperous 
homestead. The father died July 3, 1916, and the mother in February, 
1914. They had a large family of children: William, deceased; Anna, 
at home; John, of Urbana; Ruth, wife of Ora Lindley, of TTrbana; Frank, 
of Warsaw, Indiana; Nellie, wife of John Elliott, of Cass County, 
Nebraska; James Louis; Minnie, wife of Irvin Maxwell; and Albert and 
Edward, both deceased. 

James L. Edwards has farmed on the old homestead all his life and is 
now owner of 160 acres of the old place and besides has eighty acres not 
included in the original domain of his father. Mr. -Edwards is a fine 
type of the Champaign County agriculturist and has proved the right 
man in the right place. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church at 
Philo. 

JASON EUGENE CHURCHILL. One of the good farm homes in Philo 
Township is found in section 25, where Mr. J. E. Churchill shows his 
ability as a farmer and stockman and by dint of hard work and good 
management has acquired the ownership of a tract of land which he first 
farmed as a renter. 

Mr. Churchill is a native of Champaign County, having been born in 
Crittenden Township April 3, 1892. His parents were Jason M. and 
Jennie E. (French) Churchill. His father was born in New York State 
and his mother in the State of Kansas. His father came to Champaign 
County when twenty-five years of age and lived an active life as a farmer 
until his death on July 16, 1911. The mother died in September, 1916. 
They had three children: Lottie J., Agnes E. and Jason Eugene, and all 
are living in Philo Township. 

At the age of nineteen, in 1911, J. E. Churchill graduated from the 
Philo High School and almost at once began farming on the home place. 
A little later he transferred his operations to a rented farm of 160 acres 
in section 25. Each year brought him added capital as well as experience, 
and he is now the owner of eighty acres of land in section 25, and his 
accomplishments promise still greater achievements before he comes to 
the full maturity of his career. He is both a farmer and stock raiser. 

Mr. Churchill was married January 1, 1913, to Fern Spencer, of 
Crittenden Township. Their three young children are: Jason Spencer, 
born June 1, 1914; Esther Marie, born July 7, 1915; and Mildred Jean, 
born September 12, 1916. Like many of the young men of modern times, 
Mr. Churchill chooses independently in matters of politics. He is a 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 909 

member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Philo and also of the 
Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his wife worship in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. 

M. FENWICK. Among the families of more than fifty years' residence 
in Champaign County, one which is well and favorably known is that rep- 
resented by M. Fenwick, a prosperous business citizen of St. Joseph, who 
has made his home in this community since 1868. Mr. Fenwick was born 
in Indiana, June 14, 1842, a son of William and Mary (Gilbert) Fenwick. 
His maternal grandfather was an early frontiersman of Ohio, and in that 
state, in Ross County, Mr. Fenwick's parents were married. William Fen- 
wick was born in Highland County, Ohio, and his father's birthplace was 
Fenwick's Island, Delaware. 

The Fenwick family can be directly traced back to the days of bow-and- 
arrow warfare in Scotland, when members of the family, loyal Scots all, 
were among the best archers, there being at one time 500 of the name so 
armed fighting for the rights and liberties of the land of heather. Sir 
John Fenwick, one of Mr. Fenwick's ancestors, was beheaded in England 
for his patriotic activities, and it is thought that the original Fenwick in 
America, Thomas, who arrived in Virginia in 1630, came to this country 
to escape a like fate. In the Encyclopedia Et Heraldica it is found that 
the armorials of the family are deposited at the Lion office of Edinburgh, 
Scotland. The original orthography of the name Fenwick was given in 
1567 as Fynwyk, this being changed in 1723 to Finwick and in 1793 to 
Fenwick. The first record given of the family in this country was in a 
reference made in the work, entitled "Southern Quakers and Slavery," by 
Stephen D. Weeks, Ph. D., published by Ballentyne, 1896. In the court 
records of Norfolk County, Virginia, the name of Thomas Fenwick is fre- 
quently found, either as a prosecutor or a defendant, and while his record 
shows that he surely led a stormy life, some of the penalties, fines and 
causes for proceedings were both laughable and absurd. He was granted 
at different' times several thousand acres of land by the Virginia governors 
as recompense for bringing settlers into the county, and at one time trans- 
ported sixty persons, for which service he was given 3,000 acres, a part of 
which was subsequently called Fenwick Island, lying off the coast of Dela- 
ware. The court record of May 21, 1679, shows that one Malachi Thruston 
received judgment against Thomas Fenwick for 365 pounds of tobacco; 
on September 5, 1679, Thomas Fenwick received a judgment against 
Nathaniel Brangwing for 400 pounds of tobacco; on February 15, 1680, 
Thomas Fenwick obtained judgment against Edward Wilder for 337 pounds 
of pork, and in another case Henry Creek obtained judgment against 
Thomas Fenwick for 130 pounds of tobacco and 108 pounds of pork. On 
October 15, 1684, William Porter obtained judgment against Thomas Fen- 
wick for 1,000 pipe stems, to be paid at "Fenwick's Landing." In the land 
office at Richmond, Virginia, Liber. VII, folio 423, Francis Lord Howard, 
governor, is shown to issue to Thomas Fenwick a grant of 350 acres for the 
transportation of seven persons, and later it is shown where Thomas Fen- 
wick traded a negro slave woman for 200 acres of land. On November *17, 
1685, "Whereas, Philip Howard did detain a servant of Thomas Fenwick 
(named Humphry Dorman, who had three years to serve) for the loss of 
a bull hired to said Fenwick in which hire the servant ran away, and if 
Howard do not return said servant within six months to Fenwick, he pay 
Fenwick 600 pounds of tobacco and costs." Later in 1700, he was made 
a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature and with other members was 
appointed at different times to call upon the governor and to present bills 
for consideration. In the Pennsylvania archives it is shown that Thomas 

225 



910 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Fenwick was appointed justice of the peace for Sussex County, and that 
on May 4, 1703, one Edward Page was fined five shillings for swearing in 
his (Fen wick's) presence. Fenwick's Island is referred to in the celebrated 
case between William Penn and Lord Baltimore. The will of Thomas 
Fenwick is recorded at Georgetown, Delaware, Liber. A, folio 77, as follows : 
He first willed his soul to God and to his heirs his real estate, slaves and 
chattels; his daughter, Margaret Stretcher, and heirs his spinning wheels, 
cards and utensils, her choice of beds and his youngest negro girl ; to Anna 
Clifton, his sea bed ; to Margaret Hepburn, his old horse "Lodge" and four 
barrels of Indian corn; to Sarah Clifton, his silver baker; and to Thomas 
Clifton, half of his mares and an increase on Fenwick's Island. 

From his native state of Ohio William Fenwick removed to Indiana 
and subsequently to Illinois, but after seven years in this state returned to 
Indiana and there passed the rest of his life. His son, M. Fenwick, was 
twenty-six years of age when he came to Illinois, being at that time the 
possessor of a common school education and the trade of carpenter, and 
settled in St. Joseph Township, Champaign County. He subsequently built 
the first house at St. Joseph, as well as the first ticket office at this point; 
likewise built the first house and ticket office at Ogden, Illinois, and scored 
and hewed the first ties used on the Union Pacific Eailroad at Omaha, 
Nebraska, but after several years in the trade turned his attention to 
farming, a field in which he won enviable success through industry and 
good management, backed up by sound integrity in all transactions. 

In 1871 Mr. Fenwick was married to Martha E. Johnson, who was born 
near Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana, daughter of William and Cath- 
erine (Ladd) Johnson, a member of a notable family which traces its 
ancestry back many generations in this country, and a granddaughter of 
a cousin of President John Quincy Adams. To Mr. and Mrs. Fenwick 
there were born the following children : Gary C., W. J., Inez C. and 
Zula B., all graduates of the St. Joseph High School, where they made 
exceptional records, and all now worthy and honorable citizens of their 
communities. Gary C. Fenwick married Juniata Graham, who was born at 
Vevay in southern Indiana, daughter of Robert and Martha (Lester) 
Graham, a family which owned and operated the ferry at Vevay. She 
has been granted a Government license as pilot on the Ohio River, dated 
August 9, 1915. Gary C. Fenwick is one of the foremost carpenters and 
contractors of St. Joseph Township, having built some of the finest struc- 
tures in this part of the county, including the brick Christian Church at 
St. Joseph, of which he and his family are members and liberal supporters, 
he having served as superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Fenwick 
is one of his locality's honored citizens and the possessor of a refined wife 
and attractive home. W. J. Fenwick married Irma Martin of Louisa, and 
has one child, Louise. He resides at home and is engaged in assisting his 
father with the work of the homestead. Inez C. Fenwick married Alex- 
ander Penny and resides at Skykomish, Washington, where Mr. Fenwick 
is connected with railroad shops. Mrs. Penny was formerly for one year 
worthy matron of the Order of the Eastern Star at Urbana, Illinois. 
Zula B. Fenwick married Charles Davis, a farmer of St. Louis, Michigan, 
and has one child, Martha. 

In various ways M. Fenwick has been a factor in bringing about the 
development of Champaign County, and his assistance has been constant 
in support of worthy measures. He has served as road commissioner and 
school director, and when the first drainage system was installed was elected 
drainage commissioner, and with his helpers dug and completed forty 
miles of open and tile ditches within three years in one township, a feat 
which is one that stands out as a great accomplishment in the history of 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 911 

this section. In political matters he holds to broad views on various sub- 
jects and refuses to allow himself to be confined to party lines, his support 
being given to the men whom he believes best qualified for the office and 
to the policies that he feels are best for the general welfare. He has been 
a generous donator to the Christian Church, of which he and his family 
are members. For fifty years he has been identified with Masonry, in 
which he has attained to the thirty-second degree, and his son has also 
been a member of this order for some years. In every respect Mr. Fen- 
wick is a representative citizen of his community, a man whose excellent 
reputation has been built upon a long period of straightforward dealing and 
clean living, and a worthy bearer of this honorable family name. 

EGBERT J. MYEES. For forty-one years Eobert J. Myers has lived 
in Champaign County. Those have been years of productive labor, of 
public spirited enterprise, and few men have left a stronger impress upon 
their home locality than he. He was not a wealthy man when he came to 
this county and his prosperity has been the fruit of long continued work, 
good management and an unselfish interest in the life and affairs of his 
community. 

He is a native of the old Blue Grass State and was born in Lewis 
County, Kentucky, March 23, 1853. He is the oldest of four children, 
three sons and one daughter, born to John Means and Isabel (Markland) 
Myers. Three children are still living: Eobert, Henry and Nannie. 
Henry, still living in Lewis County, Kentucky, is both a farmer and 
manager of a large tobacco warehouse. He is married and he and his 
wife are members of the Christian Church. Nannie is the wife of A. G. 
Wilson, a farmer and breeder of blooded horses in Lewis County, Ken- 
tucky. 

John M. Myers was born in Lewis County November 2, 1812. His 
death occurred in 1896, at the age of eighty-four. He improved his 
limited advantages in the common schools so as to be able to teach for 
a number of terms. In politics he was an old line Whig and an admirer 
and supporter of Henry Clay. From that party he went into the Bepub- 
lican ranks upon the organization and cast his vote for Fremont in 1856. 
Besides the ownership of 572 acres in Lewis County he acquired 1104 
acres of land in Newcomb Township of Champaign County, Illinois. 
Part of his Champaign County possessions he entered direct from the 
government. Land that he paid a dollar and a quarter an acre for could 
not now be bought for less than three hundred dollars an acre. He and 
his son Eobert walked all the way from Kentucky to Illinois to enter the 
land in Champaign County. Combined with his ability and success in 
material affairs John M. Myers possessed the qualifications of the true 
Kentucky gentleman. He lived liberally and hospitably and was a man 
looked up to wherever he was known. His death occurred in the old 
home where he was born and reared. His wife was a native of Adams 
County, Ohio, born there September 20, 1818, and died a number of 
years ago. She grew to young womanhood in her native state, was edu- 
cated in Ohio, and then accompanied her parents to Lewis County, 
Kentucky. Her father was William Markland. John M. Myers and 
wife were both members of the Christian Church. 

Mr. Robert J. Myers grew up in his native state. The advantages he 
acquired in the local schools were supplemented by a rigid course of self 
training and study. At one time he attended school kept in a log cabin. 
He even used and made the old-fashioned goose quill pen as the implement 
of writing. For thirteen terms Mr. Myers was a school teacher, teaching 
twelve terms in his native state and one in Illinois. Some of his Ken- 



912 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

tucky schools were supported on the subscription plan. His home was 
with his parents until he was twenty-three and part of his earnings always 
went into the family exchequer. 

At the age of thirteen Mr. Myers met with an accident which made 
his left leg permanently crippled. In spite of that handicap his indomit- 
able energy and ambition has made him a very successful man. Coming 
to Illinois, he took up a life of agriculture, and that has been his chief 
calling and the source of his best success. With the aid of his good wife 
he has accumulated 200 acres of the rich land in Newcomb Township and 
they also have a beautiful residence in Fisher. 

On December 21, 1886, Mr. Myers married Miss Anna Belle Gilmore. 
Two children have been born to their union, a son and a daughter. John 
G., the son, has for the past seven years been a resident of Mansfield, 
Illinois, and is assistant cashier and bookkeeper in the State Bank of that 
town He was educated in the Fisher High School, and before entering 
the bank took a business course in the Bloomingtoa Business College. He 
is a Republican, and in Masonry has advanced from the Blue Lodge to 
the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite. He is a live and enterprising 
young citizen and besides his connection with the bank is associated with 
Alva James in the automobile business. John G. Myers was married in 
December, 1916, to Miss Phoebe James. 

Lela M., the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Myers, married W. B. 
Scott. A resident of Fisher, he spends his time in travel as an employe 
in the United States mail service. Mrs. Scott was educated in the Fisher 
schools, is an active member of the Domestic Science Club and was its 
secretary four years. She and her husband are members of the Christian 
Church at Fisher. Mr. Scott was educated in the common schools and 
the Danville High School and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of 
America. The delight of the home of Mr. and Mrs. Scott and the grand- 
parents, where Mrs. Scott resides, is the little daughter, Virginia Erretine. 

Mrs. Myers was born in Licking County, Ohio, October 9, 1865, a 
daughter of George- W. and Hannah J. (Holland) Gilmore. She was 
one of four sons and two daughters, five of whom are living and all 
residents of Illinois. Her father was a native of Virginia, where he 
grew to manhood and received his education. He and his wife were mar- 
ried about the time of the war and removed to Licking County, Ohio. 
He followed agriculture as his vocation and had seventy-five acres in 
Licking County. During the war he fought as a soldier and at the end 
of his term was granted an honorable discharge. His death occurred 
June 2, 1898. Politically he was a Democrat and he and his wife were 
members of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Gilmore, also a native of Vir- 
ginia, where she was reared and married, attended the common schools 
and she died in Champaign County in 1901. Both of them are now at 
rest in the Mahomet Cemetery, where a monument marks their resting 
place. Mrs. Myers was educated in the common schools and has proved 
a most capable helpmate and counselor to her husband in the rearing of 
their children and the establishment of their home. 

In politics Mr. Myers is a Republican and cast his first presidential 
vote for James G. Elaine in 1884. . For nine years he served as assessor 
of Newcomb Township. He and his wife are active members of the Court 
of Honor at Mahomet and belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church at 
Fisher. 

MARTIN ORLANDO STOVER. Farmers are the uncrowned kings of 
America today, and if they do not hold the political destiny of the country in 
their hands they are at least the custodians of the resources which are the 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 913 

most vital and necessary to the welfare and existence of the millions who 
live in the great cities and industrial centers. Champaign County has a 
wealth of men who are doing their part in the development of American 
agriculture, and it is no disparagement of what others are doing and have 
done to name Martin Orlando Stover as a recognized leader among them all. 

Mr. Stover has been identified with this county since 1883. His beauti- 
ful country home, known as Evergreen View, is located two and a half 
miles northwest of Mahomet on the Bloomington Road and it is one of the 
farms which might be selected as an example of what scientific and system- 
atic management can accomplish. 

Mr. Stover was born in Edgar County, Illinois, March 31, 1861. His 
parents were Ptollman and Mary E. (Earhart) Stover. He was the second 
of their three children, and his two sisters are both deceased. His father was 
born in West Alexandria, Preble County, Ohio, in 1833, and is still living 
at the venerable age of eighty-four, his home being in California. He was 
reared and educated in his native state and was for years a successful farmer 
and horticulturist. After his marriage in Ohio he moved to Wayne County, 
Indiana, lived there three years, and about 1860 settled in Edgar County, 
Illinois. A short time after the birth of his son Martin 0. he went to 
Charleston, Illinois, and his first wife died there. He afterwards married 
Mrs. Mary Harris Billing, and of the five children of that union three are 
living. Some time prior to the Civil War P. Stover invented a corn planter, 
and it was one of the first successful devices of the kind ever introduced. 
From Illinois he returned to Wayne County, Indiana, where he married his 
second wife and where he bought eighty acres of land. In 1871 he removed 
to Missouri, lived about twenty-five years there as a farmer and fruit 
grower, and about 1896 went west to California, where he is still living. He 
began voting as a Whig and for sixty years has supported the Republican 
candidates and principles. He is a Master Mason and in religion is liberal. 
His first wife was a native of Ohio, was reared and educated there, and was 
a member of the German Reformed Church. 

Martin Orlando Stover lived with his father in Missouri from 1871 until 
1883, but otherwise his experience has been chiefly in Illinois. After the 
common school course he entered the Versailles High School in Morgan 
County, Missouri, graduated in 1880, and also took a normal training sum- 
mer school course at Versailles. From 1879 to 1889 he was successfully 
engaged in teaching. Four years of that work were done in Missouri and six 
years in Champaign County, partly near his present home and partly near 
Fisher. 

In 1885 he and his wife located on the eighty acres in Newcomb Town- 
ship which Mrs. Stover inherited. Their present home farm is 209 acres in 
Mahomet Township, and they still own forty acres in Newcomb Township. 
Some years ago Mr. Stover remodeled a beautiful residence and has made it 
one of the most attractive country homes in the county. Since giving up 
school teaching he has devoted his life to farming and on the scientific 
plan. He has judiciously combined experience and the theories taught in 
books and by professors of agriculture, and has reduced farming to a strict 
business principle. He keeps books on his farm and at any time he 
knows exactly where he stands in matters of assets and liabilities. For 
years he has practiced the principle of crop rotation, and all his fields 
in his farms in Newcomb and Mahomet townships are numbered and strict 
count is kept of each field. He has adopted the system advocated by the 
United States Department of Agriculture and the State University Agri- 
cultural Department, known as the Farmers Account Book. Mr. Stover is 
authority for the statement that about 125 farmers in Champaign County 
follow the same plan. 



914 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

On December 24, 1885, Mr. Stover married Miss Laura B. Lyons. They 
are the parents of a son and daughter. Nellie E., the older, was educated in 
the common schools and for a short time attended the University of Illinois. 
She is now the wife of Ernest Mitchell, and they live on a farm in Newcomb 
Township. They have one daughter, Louise, now eight years of age and a 
student in the second grade. Nellie is a member of the Baptist Church. 
Orville 0., the son, is still at home and is active manager of his father's 
farming enterprise. He was educated in the common schools, graduated 
from the Mahomet High School, and spent one year in the agricultural 
course of the University of Illinois. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge 
at Mahomet. 

Mrs. Stover was born in Champaign County February 13, 1861, a 
daughter of Samuel and Martha (Newell) Lyons. She is the second of three 
living children. Her older brother, William B., has shown gi-eat ability as 
a business farmer and stock raiser and in Michigan is handling a farm for 
the breeding and raising of Hereford cattle. Her younger brother, Dwight, 
is a farmer in Condit Township of Champaign County. 

Samuel Lyons was a native of Kentucky, and came to Champaign 
County in 1856, when a young man. He made his start here with little 
capital, though he was a member of a well to do family in Kentucky, and at 
the time of his death, which occurred about 1888, he left his children a 
goodly estate and also an untarnished name and a reputation for square 
dealing. Mrs. Stover was educated in the common schools and for years has 
been an active member of the Baptist Church at Mahomet. 

The Stover home possesses one of the best private libraries found in that 
part of Champaign County. The 500 volumes range from the Encyclopedia 
Britannica to the classic works of literature, and all the books show wise and 
careful 'handling and study. Mr. Stover has always been a student, has 
kept in close touch with life and affairs and there is hardly a doubt that his 
well trained mind has had a great deal to do with his success as a farmer. 

In past years he figured somewhat prominently in local politics as a 
member of the Democratic party. He represented his party in various 
county and state conventions and served six years as supervisor of Mahomet 
Township, as clerk of Newcomb Township, as a director of the schools and 
being an old teacher he has performed his greatest pleasure in sustaining and 
keeping up good educational institutions in his community. He has steadily 
advocated the hiring of the best talent and the securing of modern equip- 
ment for school use. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Mahomet Lodge 
of Masons, with Chapter No. 50, E. A. M., and Commandery No. 68, 
Knights Templar, at Champaign, and he is also a member of the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows at Mahomet. 

ISAAC HIXENBAUGH is an old time resident of Champaign County, was 
for many years identified not only with farming but also the civic affairs 
of Ogden Township, and is now enjoying the comforts of material pros- 
perity and the rewards of his earlier strenuous efforts in a pleasant home at 
Homer. 

Mr. Hixenbaugh was born near West Warren in Marion County, West 
Virginia, May 4, 1846, a son of Isaac and Martha (Ogden) Hixenbaugh. 
His mother's brother, John Ogden, was the man after whom Ogden town 
and Ogden Township in this county were named. Isaac Hixenbaugh was 
one of eight children, next to the youngest, and grew up and received his 
education in a backwood district of West Virginia, where he attended a 
log school conducted on the subscription plan. He sat on a rough board 
bench without a back, learned the lessons of the few text books, chiefly an 



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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 915 

arithmetic, speller and reader, and had limited comforts and conveniences 
both in school and at home. When he was fourteen years of age his 
parents moved to Green County, Pennsylvania, locating seventeen miles 
west of Waynesburg. After three years they moved to Morrow County, 
Ohio, settling half a mile south of Sparta, on a farm. 

Isaac Hixenbaugh was in Morrow County, Ohio, four years, and in 
1868, at the age of twenty-two, came to Illinois, spending one year a mile 
east of Mount Vernon, Ohio. On August 19, 1869, he married Miss 
Mary M. Freeman. Mrs. Hixenbaugh was born in Homer Township of 
Champaign County, three miles southwest of Ogden, a daughter of Thomas 
and Nancy Freeman. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hixenbaugh 
located three-quarters of a mile north of where the town of Ogden now 
stands. At that time there was no Ogden, no railroad, and everything 
was new and primitive. Mr. Hixenbaugh paid $10.50 per acre for a tract 
of forty acres. Three years later he moved three and a half miles south- 
west of Ogden and bought fifty-one acres, which was one of the first 
improved farms in that section of the county. He paid $42.50 an acre 
for the land and forthwith began the task of making a permanent home 
there. His industry was rewarded and he became able to buy other land 
until he acquired 236 'acres. Mrs. Hixenbaugh also inherited 170 acres. 
Mr. Hixenbaugh built two good barns, a commodious house, surrounded the 
home with fruit and shade trees, and in that pleasant environment his chil- 
dren grew up. Instead of buying more land for himself he wisely assisted 
his children in acquiring their homes. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hixenbaugh had six children, Louie Margaret, Newton, 
Clara, Grace, Thomas and Ava. Grace and Thomas died in infancy and 
Clara died at the age of twenty-two. The children were educated in the 
Clark School in District No. 1. The daughter Louie M. married Thomas W. 
Richards, a retired farmer at Homer, and they have two children, Amanda 
and Bessie. Amanda is the wife of Frederick Umbenhour and has two 
children, Dorothy and Edward, while Bessie is the wife of Thurl Schaum- 
burg, and has one child, Earl Richards. 

Newton Hixenbaugh first married Eva Curry, who was burned to death 
thirty days after her wedding, and he subsequently married Mattie None- 
maker and by that union has two children, Dolly and Maud. 

Ava Hixenbaugh is the wife of Charles Boyd, a farmer living on the 
old Hixenbaugh homestead. They have one child, Byrl. In the summer 
of 1917 a part of the cyclone which did such devastation in central Illinois 
tore the Boyd home to pieces. Mrs. Boyd was asleep in the house, while 
her little daughter, four years old, was playing outdoors. The daughter 
ran into the house and waked her mother just in time for them to escape 
into the cellar. The brick chimney tumbled down, a total ruin, striking 
the bed where Mrs. Boyd had been lying. Fortunately the floor fell with 
one edge resting on the bank cellar, and thus the mother and daughter were 
protected from harm. 

On April 8, 1914, the good wife and mother, Mrs. Hixenbaugh, passed 
away, after having reared her children, and with their benedictions and 
the kindly memories of many friends following her. On August 31, 1914, 
Mr. Hixenbaugh married Mrs. Priscilla E. Richards. Her first husband 
was R. H. Trout, and before her marriage to Mr. Hixenbaugh she was the 
widow of Cyrus Richards. By her first marriage she had children named 
Charles, Boyd, Grace, Boyce and Lacy Trout. Charles Trout is a phy- 
sician practicing in Missouri and by his marriage to Miss Lottie Maynard 
has two daughters, Thelma and Evelyn. Boyd Trout is a farmer near Fair- 
mount, Indiana, and married Grace Bowers, their two children being Cecil 
and Irene. Grace Trout is the wife of William Jones of Shreveport, 



916 HISTOEY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Louisiana, and has two children, Eugene and Meredith. Boyce Trout is a 
barber at Muncie, Indiana, and married Gladys Hamilton, their four chil- 
dren being Mary, Oma, Virgil and Carl. Lacy Trout resides near Mathews, 
Indiana, married Quincy Tapman, and has two children, Evelyn and Paul. 

In addition to rearing their own children Mr. and Mrs. Hixenbaugh 
have had in their home his granddaughter, Bessie Peters, who is now Mrs. 
Wakefield of Homer, Illinois. 

Mr. Hixenbaugh is one of the men who has liv.ed to see the low ground 
drained, the prairies cultivated and Champaign County blossom like a 
rose. In the early days of low prices he sold corn at 16 cents a bushel, 
oats at 11 cents and hogs at 2~y% cents a pound. He had his share of the 
trials and adversities of pioneer days. He has not gone through life with- 
out giving his share to the public welfare. He served as school director 
seven years and was the first assessor to be elected in Ogden Township 
and also assisted in making the first poll book of that township. He and 
his wife are attendants at the Christian Church in Ogden and in politics 
he is a Democrat. In August, 1917, Mr. Hixenbaugh left his farm and 
bought a comfortable residence at 304 Fourth Street in the town of Homer. 
He felt that the time had come for his retirement from the active responsi- 
bilities of farming, and his material prosperity well" justified such a move. 
He was not sure that he would be contented away from the farm and his 
accustomed work, but to his surprise he has found good friends and neigh- 
bors, and has thoroughly enjoyed his new life in this sociable and cultured 
community. 

JOHN WESLEY STIPES. In the spring of 1917, after the declaration 
of war was made and preparations were hurried to convert and organize 
this nation for war, the United States Government made known its pur- 
pose for the selection of a location for an aviation field in Illinois and 
preferably convenient to the State University. A committee of half a 
dozen men were called together by President James of the University, 
and of this committee J. W. Stipes, of Champaign, was elected chairman. 
This committee gave careful study to the problems involved and after 
looking over many locations selected four possible sites, each a mile 
square, containing 640 acres. That was the work of the committee and 
after that the government had to choose among these four locations. The 
presence of the State University was a big factor in deciding the problem, 
since the university would undoubtedly furnish a large number of men 
for the aviation corps. The Champaign Chamber of Commerce, together 
with the committee, began an energetic canvass to convince the government 
that the Eantoul field would be the best suited for the purpose. Mr. J. 
W. Stipes went to Washington and for several weeks used his untiring 
efforts, as a result of which it was decided to acquire and develop the 
site at Rantoul. 

In line with what seems a general policy of the Federal Government 
during the war, the improvement of this site was turned over to the 
civil authorities, and in this case largely to local men. Mr. Stipes, at 
the head of these local citizens, together with the English Brothers, secured 
the contract for improving and erecting the buildings on the ground, the 
contract to be completed in sixty days. Four days after the contract was 
signed 800 men were busily engaged, and at the end of ten days a force 
of 1,500 men and 225 teams were at work. By the end of June every 
building was under way and fifty per cent of the improvement was com- 
pleted, and before the end of the summer the grounds were in use for the 
training of an aviation corps. The buildings consist of barracks, store 
buildings, hospital, school, and twelve hangars for the flying machines, 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 917 

one capable of holding six machines, and altogether these buildings consti- 
tute a small city in itself. It was a heroic undertaking to develop the 
grounds. Nine miles of drain tile were laid, three miles of sewer, a 
septic tank was constructed, two and a half miles of water mains were 
put under ground, electric power was brought a distance of eighteen miles, 
a spur of a railway track was built, three and a quarter million feet of 
lumber was used, a hundred thousand cubic yards of earth were shifted 
for grading and filling, and a fine crop of four hundred acres of corn was 
destroyed to make way for this colossal government enterprise. All was 
done and finished satisfactorily within the sixty days allowed by the 
contract. 

People who are in a position to know, give much of the credit of this 
achievement to John W. Stipes. That is only one of the big undertakings 
he has successfully carried out during a lifetime. 

A well written book of fiction frequently pleases because the imaginary 
characters overcome handicaps and reach their various goals sometimes 
through almost unbelievable hardships. In looking about among real 
people it is possible, more often than one may think, without trying to 
find quiet men whose handicaps have not been imaginary and whose 
achievements prove that they have lived bravely outside the page of the 
story book. Many of the elements found in the pages of fiction have been 
exemplified in the career of Mr. Stipes, who is a self made, self educated 
man, and for years has been a factor in the life and affairs of Champaign 
County. 

John Wesley Stipes was born in Montgomery County, Iowa, September 
14, 1860. His parents were John and Harriet (Bean) Stipes, both of 
whom were born in Virginia. The family resided in Iowa when the 
Civil War broke out, the father being a supporter of the Union cause. In 
all times of public stress there is more or less excitement and sectional 
feeling is apt to be aroused, and it was through an outbreak of this kind, 
incident to the attempted arrest of an outspoken sympathizer with the 
secession movement, that John Stipes lost his life. He left his widow 
with five children, John Wesley being the youngest. The others also 
suryive, as follows: Sarah, who is the widow of George Peterson, of 
Henderson, Iowa ; George, a resident of Urbana, Illinois ; Louise, wife of 
Edward Good, of Paxico, Kansas; Thomas, who is a resident, of Wabash, 
Indiana. The mother migrated to Champaign, Illinois, when John Wesley 
was yet an infant. 

By the time he was ten years of age John Wesley Stipes had made 
some progress in the district schools but after that age had little oppor- 
tunity for study, as he then became a boy of all work on a farm, the pro- 
prietor of which, Mr. Barley, had quite a family of young children to be 
looked after as well as horses to be cared for and fields to be cultivated. 
No doubt it often required a stout bit of courage, especially on cold 
winter mornings, to be the first up on the farm, to make the fires and 
then do the farm chores and then to amiably take care of the children 
while the family ate breakfast. His own breakfast followed and then 
his day's work was supposed to start. Mr. Stipes remembers that his 
earliest attempts at handling a three-horse plow were not very successful, 
as he encountered much trouble in turning the plow at the end of the 
furrow. His plowing had to be kept up until noon, when he was per- 
mitted to return to the house and take care of the children while the 
other workers ate dinner, his meal following afterward. With changing 
seasons his work varied but never slackened, his wages being $5 
a month. Mr. Stipes displayed even then a proper business sense, spend- 
ing his first twenty dollars for a heifer. He continued on the farm under 



918 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

the same conditions until two years had passed by and he was a fine, 
sturdy youth of twelve years. 

In 1872 Mr. Button placed John W. Stipes and Homer Stillwell in 
his brickyard at Urbana, and this was a fortunate change for John Wesley 
and he soon developed an interest in this line of work and willingly and 
faithfully labored there for eight years, during this time mastering the 
details of the brick business and incidentally of the manufacturing of 
tile. He began to make plans for ernharking in business for himself, and 
just here came in an element that some workers might have overlooked. 
This was that while working steadily with his hands he had also built up 
a reputation for fidelity to his employer, for honest effort and persevering 
industry, and this brought him the respect and confidence of the late 
Judge J. 0. Cunningham. Judge Cunningham testified to his sterling 
character and readily recommended him to the farming community in 
need of tile, whereby he had no difficulty in contracting with them for 
their tile requirements on the basis of an advance of twenty-five per cent 
of the price of their contract. This would enable him to start the manu- 
facturing and after the plant started the farmers were to have their pro 
rata of the manufacture as the work proceeded. It is not necessary to 
add that every contract was faithfully and honestly completed. 

Mr. Stipes was thus soon on the highway of success. In the course 
of time Judge Smith, of Champaign, and L. L. Hayworth, of Decatur, 
engaged him to go over to Decatur, Illinois, and build a tile plant there 
for them, which work required a year of his time, after which he returned 
to Champaign and became associated with George F. Beardsley in organiz- 
ing a company to build a tile factory in Champaign. He subsequently 
bought the Sheldon Tile Company of Urbana, the Madero Tile Company 
and also the stock and plant of the Urbana Brick Company, which had 
failed after operating three years. 

In April, 1881, Mr. Stipes was married to Miss Eliza Garrison, who 
was born at Urbana, Illinois, and they have the following children: Royal 
A., of Champaign ; Opal, wife of E. S. Pilcher, of Champaign ; Bessie, 
wife of M. L. Hecker; Helen J., wife of Robert Eisner; and John W., of 
Texas. In politics Mr. Stipes is a Republican and has been a member 
of the school board for years. He is a member of the Methodist Church 
and fraternally is an Elk and Knight of Pythias. 

T. F. BERKLEY, who for a number of years has been the leading flour 
merchant in the village of Ogden, is a miller by training and experience, as 
was his father before him. 

Mr. Berkley was born at Maxburg in Muskingum County, Ohio, a son of 
C. F. and C. M. (Richardson) Berkley. This branch of the Richardson 
family were prominent both in Ohio and Kentucky. C. F. Berkley in the 
early days conducted a mill on the Muskingum River, but in 1851 removed 
to Charleston, Illinois, when his son T. F. was only three years of age. C. F. 
Berkley while at Charleston became a friend of Abraham Lincoln, then a 
prominent Illinois lawyer, and he often met this great statesman after that 
and was a warm and stanch admirer of him both personally and in politics. 
T. F. Berkley was the youngest of five sons. 

On September 29, 1869, when T. F. Berkley was twenty-one years of age, 
he married Lydia A. Howver. She was born at West Middleburg, Ohio. 
After their marriage they lived for a time at Homer, Illinois, and then for 
twenty-seven years Mr. Berkley conducted a flour mill in Vermilion County. 
He also lived at Charleston, Illinois, ten years. He has conducted an exten- 
sive business as a flour and grain miller and is still active at Ogden. 

Three children were born to him and his wife, Herbert, Tina M. and 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY' 919 

Roy F. Herbert married Marie Dugan. Her father was a Baptist minister 
and her home was near Louisville, Kentucky, but while visiting in Illinois 
she met Herbert Berkley and they were soon afterwards married. Their 
children are Irene and Charles F., who assists his father in the business at 
Ogden. Roy Berkley is now a ticket agent in the Union Depot at St. Louis, 
Missouri. He married Edith Molmon, of Ohio, and has two children, Merle 
and Fred. The daughter Tina M. was taken away by death in beautiful 
young womanhood. 

Mr. Berkley was deprived of the companionship of his wife on April 18, 
1917, after they had been happily married for nearly fifty years. She was a 
most lovable woman and had endeared herself to a large circle of friends by 
her goodness of heart. Mr. and Mrs. Berkley usually attended the New 
Light and Methodist Episcopal churches. In politics he has always been a 
Republican. His sons are members of the Woodmen and Knights of Pythias 
orders. For eighteen years Mr. Berkley has lived at Ogden and has followed 
the business of miller and has enjoyed much success. 

The Berkley family were natural musicians and possessed also many 
genial and sociable qualities. When the country was new and social oppor- 
tunities and places of amusement were limited T. F. Berkley and other 
young men of kindred tastes organized a string band. He was one of the 
violinists, and should be mentioned as one of the old time fiddlers of Cham- 
paign County. For years their organization furnished music for dances all 
over the country. There was no gathering of young people considered com- 
plete without these young men to add to the cheer of the occasion, and for 
years they gave music for the entertainment of many communities. These 
public dances were noted for their splendid order and the fine class of people 
who patronized them. Many of the participants in those public dances have 
grown gray, but they often refer with pleasure to the old time dances. 
Through all the years of his life Mr. Berkley has retained the friendships 
made in his youth as well as many formed in later years, and the confidence 
and esteem given him then have followed him through all his years. He 
has been peculiarly blessed with a spirit of sociability and cheerfulness, and 
these taken in connection with his good business judgment have brought him 
a more than ordinary place of esteem and success. 

MICHAEL LOWET. One of the prominent and substantial families of 
Champaign County bears the name of Lowry and this name for half 
a century has represented here good citizenship, honest industry and faith- 
ful membership in the Roman Catholic Church. While not an unusually 
prolific family, it is a long-lived one and at present there are three genera- 
tions residing at Philo, Illinois. 

Michael Lowry was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, June 9, 1850. 
His parents were John and Margaret (Nolan) Lowry, natives of the same 
county, and from there they came to America and to Illinois in 1865. 
John Lowry settled on a farm in Will County, near Joliet, and remained 
there for six years and then removed to Crittenden Township in Cham- 
paign County, where he bought 160 acres of land. He cultivated and 
improved his property and died there in November, 1874. His wife 
survived him for thirteen years, her death taking place February 24, 1887. 
They were the parents of five children, namely : William, who is a resident 
of Peoria, Illinois; Michael; James, who is a farmer in Crittenden 
Township; and Thomas and John, both of whom are farmers in Cham- 
paign Township. 

When the family removed from Will to Champaign County Michael 
Lowry went to Chicago and there for four years he was engaged in rail- 
road work. He then returned home and assisted in the farm work on 



920 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGX COUXTY 

the homestead until 1877 and then returned to Chicago. After his mar- 
riage in that city he returned to Crittenden Townhip and engaged in 
farming until 1881, when he moved to Philo and has resided here ever 
since, one of the most respected residents of the place. 

Michael Lowry was married February 8, 1877, to Miss Catherine Bowl- 
ing, who was born at Cascade, Wisconsin, February 14, 1857, and died at 
Philo, Illinois, October 14, 1896. Six children were born to them, all of 
whom survive, as follows : John F., who is a resident of Philo ; Margaret, 
who is the wife of A. C. Paris, of Champaign; Martin J., who lives at 
Becatur; Charles E., who is postmaster at Philo; Walter A., who lives 
with his father; and Howard W., who is a resident of Champaign. While 
residing in Philo Township Mr. Lowry served for six years on the school 
board and for eight years was township supervisor, and he was postmaster 
at Philo for four years, his good judgment making him an excellent public 
official which his honest performance of duty made effective. He is a 
member of St. Thomas Eoman Catholic Church, as was his wife, and he 
belongs to the Knights of Columbus. 

Charles E. Lowry, postmaster at Philo, Illinois, and a well known 
business man of this place, was born at Philo, December 30, 1885, and is 
the fourth child and the third son born to Michael and Catherine 
(Bowling) Lowry. He was educated in the public schools and after his 
graduation from the Philo High School in 1903 he went to Becatur and 
for six months remained in that city as a clerk in a mercantile house. 
After returning to Philo he accepted a clerical position with the Wabash 
Railroad at the Philo depot, and remained discharging his duties for three 
years and then left the railroad and became associated as a clerk with his 
father in the restaurant business. After an experience of eighteen months, 
in partnership with his brother Walter he bought his father's interest and 
they conduct the business together. On February 11, 1914, Mr. Lowry 
was appointed postmaster at Philo, having taken the civil service examin- 
ation in 1913. Philo is a growing town and the postoffice business here 
is heavy. Although appointed to office under a Bemocratic administra- 
tion, Mr. Lowry has always been independent in his political views. He 
is a member of the Roman Catholic Church and belong to the Knights 
of Columbus. 

M. H. ARGO is one of the men who have spent their lives in Champaign 
County, have witnessed its growth and development from almost wilderness 
days, and their own share in the transformation of the country is such that 
no work of this character could afford omission of the names and deeds. 

Mr. Argo was born on Salt Fork in St. Joseph Township of Champaign 
County, his birthplace being three miles northwest of the village of St. 
Joseph. His birth occurred there August 14, 1853, and he is a son of true 
pioneer people, Moses and Ellen (Shepard) Argo. His parents were natives 
of Ohio. Moses Argo was one of the notable men in his community. He 
came to Champaign county when the country was a vast stretch of prairie 
and swamp lands, abounding in sloughs, virgin meadows and with many 
wild animals abounding. Moses Argo was a botanical or herb doctor and 
very skillful in concoeting healing remedies from roots and herbs and was 
the choice of physician to a large number of people in the early days. He 
was also a school teacher, and one of the first to teach school in his section 
of Champaign County. Thus he was a man of more than ordinary mental 
attainments and was a high class citizen in every respect. Some of the 
schools he taught were held in private buildings, frequently log houses. 
There are some evidences yet extant of his scholarship. One of these is a 
book of records, now among the prized possessions of M. H. Argo. The date 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1)21 

of this book is February 4, 1825, and it shows the fine penmanship and 
mathematical skill of the father. M. H. Argo also has his father's leather 
pocketbook, which is now over 100 years old. 

Many of those incidents which are related on other pages of this publica- 
tion as descriptive of pioneer things in Champaign County were part of the 
individual experiences of Moses Argo. In the early days he hauled grain 
threshed from his fields all the way to Chicago, where it brought a very 
small price. One of the necessary commodities hard to get in Champaign 
County was salt, and Moses Argo frequently brought a load of salt back 
from Chicago. In the matter of low prices M. H. Argo has had some 
experiences not unlike those of his father, since he has hauled corn to 
Urbana and sold it as low as 10 cents a bushel. 

When Moses Argo came to Champaign County he entered his homestead 
from the Government. He and his neighbor, James Couden, went to the 
land office at Danville, each filing on a tract of land of their choice. On 
reaching home and having the land surveyed it turned out that each man 
had twenty acres which was most desired by the other, and thus there was 
mutual disappointment. To settle the matter they simply traded the two 
tracts, and according to the honest pioneer spirit that prevailed in those 
times neither was disposed to take advantage of the other in such a trans- 
action. 

M. H. Argo was only six months old when his good father died and he 
has therefore no personal recollections of that good old pioneer. The 
widowed mother was thus left with five children and she passed away when 
M. H. Argo was nine years of age. Thus he spent his boyhood as an orphan 
and acquired his education in the subscription district school. 

At the age of twenty-two he married Miss Manda Worl, a native of 
Indiana, and a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Cox) Worl. Her 
mother came from Ohio. Mrs. Argo was one of ten children, and she too 
obtained her education in the subscription school. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Argo located on his father's farm on 
Salt Fork, comprising 240 acres, most of which had been bought direct from 
the Government. They lived there three years, made a beginning of pros- 
perity, and later Mr. Argo bought eighty acres a mile and a half south of St. 
Joseph village, where he founded his permanent home. To his first mar- 
riage were born four children, two of whom died in infancy. The others 
are William H. and James Edward Argo. They grew up on their father's 
farm, went to school in the local district school, and are now married and 
both prosperously settled in life. William married Effie Brown, of Mount 
Vernon, and is engaged in farming on his father's place. James Edward 
lives at Mackinaw, Illinois, and married Miss Nettie Dixon. 

When the youngest child was three years of age death entered the home 
and took away the beloved mother. Later Mr. Argo married Mary Worl, a 
sister of his first wife. Thus she came into her dead sister's home as an 
angel of mercy to the orphan children and filled the place of mother to 
them, rearing them and schooling them for life's duties. By the second 
marriage there was one child, who died in infancy. By a former marriage, 
to Harrison Argo, Mrs. Argo had three children, Bertha, John T. and 
Hezekiah. They were educated at St. Joseph and are already established 
independently. Bertha is the wife of W. W. Woody, a farmer three miles 
south of St. Joseph. Their four children are Loyde, Mae, Ruth and Paul, 
bright energetic young children, and in mentioning the family the usual 
phrase runs, "Lodye and Mae and Ruth and Paul and that's all." They 
are now students in the high school at St. Joseph and Lodye is preparing for 
the University of Illinois. 

John T. Argo, the second child, is a farmer at Waukegan, Illinois, and by 



922 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

his marriage to Essie Gordon has four children, named Bernice, Royce, 
Clyde and Dorothy. Of these children Bernice is the wife of Earl Winser, 
and they live in Odebolt, Iowa. They have a child, Dwight, the only great- 
grandchild of Mr. and Mrs. Argo, and of whom they are properly proud. 

Hezekiah Argo, the youngest of the children, is a telegraph operator at 
Danvers, Illinois, and by his marriage to Emma Trickle has a son, Donald 
H. Argo. 

Mr. M. H. Argo has spent a busy and energetic life, one of practical 
success as a farmer and stock raiser. His neighbors look upon him as a 
genius in the matter of raising hogs. He has raised and fed much livestock 
for the Indianapolis market. About twenty years ago he and his wife left 
their farm and located in the village of St. Joseph, where in order to keep in 
close touch with the country as well as the town they selected a home on the 
edge of the village. Here they enjoy the comforts of a very attractive resi- 
dence. Mr. and Mrs. Argo are active members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church of the village, and its stone and brick edifice is a monument to the 
liberality of the people of that community and a beacon light in the lives of 
many. Mr. Argo served as school director a number of years, and has 
done everything he could to help forward the development of the country 
and its institutions and people. Through all his successful career his good 
wife has stood by his side, apt in counsel and advice, and always a true 
homemaker. She is one of the charming and interesting women of the 
community and her sincerity is in pleasing evidence when she bids a stranger 
good-bye, always adding the kindly injunction/ "be good to yourself and 
everybody else." In politics Mr. Argo is an ardent Republican. He has 
kept in close touch with that party for over forty years, and believes that 
America's great destiny is largely due to this political organization. 

CHARLES W. REED is a farmer and successful stockman with home 
in section 16 of Philo Township. His rural mail delivery comes from 
Tolono on Route No. 48. 

Mr. Reed was born in Marshall County, Illinois, March 11, 1869, son 
of John Caldwell and Mary (Bell) Reed. Both parents were born in 
Virginia and in early life moved to Illinois. In 1879 John C. Reed 
came to Champaign County, locating on the farm in section 16 of Philo 
Township where his son Charles now resides. Both parents are now 
deceased. Their five children were named : Charles W. ; Henry K., 
deceased; Mary Bell, wife of Professor E. H. Wells, of the University of 
Nebraska; John, of Ligonier, Indiana; and James, of Philo Township. 

Charles W. Reed grew up and received his education in Champaign 
County and at his father's death took charge of the farm for three years. 
He then went to Lincoln, Nebraska, bought eighty acres in that part of 
the state, but after a year went to Denver and in the fall of the same 
year returned to Philo, Illinois. In the spring of 1906 he entered upon 
his duties as manager of the old homestead of 160 acres, and has steadily 
and profitably directed the operations of that fine farm for over ten years. 
He raises the staple crops and also handles good live stock. 

On December 24, 1895, Mr. Reed married Miss Abbie Jane Huhn. 
Mrs. Reed was born in Maryland. They have one son, John Ralph, a 
volunteer member of Battery B, Third Illinois Artillery. Mr. Reed is 
a Republican in politics. 

MARTIN KAUCHER BUSEY, cashier of the Mahomet Bank, is another 
member of that well known family in Champaign County which from 
pioneer times has been identified with the important work of developing the 
land and the business and financial affairs of this rich section of Illinois. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 923 

The wise and judicious management of the financial resources of the 
county was never more important than at the present time, and among the 
bankers of Champaign County Mr. Busey is entitled to special consideration 
because of his long and efficient service with one institution since early 
youth. 

Mr. Busey was born in this county April 20, 1884. He is the oldest of 
the seven children, five sons and two daughters, of James B. and Katherine 
(Kaucher) Busey. The name Busey is of French descent, while that of 
Kaucher is German in, origin. James B. Busey is also a native of Cham- 
paign County, born in 1856, and is now living retired at Urbana, though 
still president of the Mahomet Bank. He was educated only in the common 
schools, and the larger part of his active career was spent as a practical 
farmer in Newcomb Township. In 1902 he retired from farming and then 
bought the Mahomet Bank, of which he is sole owner and president. Like 
others of the name, his career has been one of substantial success and of 
great influence in the development of Champaign county agriculture and 
financial and business affairs. At one time he was one of the largest land 
holders in Newcomb Township. Politically he is a Democrat, and for many 
years has given substantial support to the educational institutions of the 
county. His wife, who was born in Champaign County in 1861, was well 
educated and was a successful teacher in the city schools of Urbana before 
her marriage. Both she and her husband are active members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

All their children are living except one. Simeon H., the second in age, 
is cashier of the First State Trust & Savings Bank of Urbana. He was 
educated in the common schools, in the University of Illinois, and is a 
graduate of Brown's Business College. He is married, is a Democrat in 
politics, and is affiliated with the Elks Lodge at Champaign. Frances, the 
. oldest daughter, completed her education in the University of Illinois and is 
still at home with her parents. Josephine graduated from the State Uni- 
versity with the class of 1917. Matthew W., who is assistant cashier of the 
Mahomet Bank, was well educated, completing his course in Brown's Busi- 
ness College, and was also a student in the Urbana High School. He is 
a member of the Masonic fraternity. Donald is the youngest of the family. 

Martin K. Busey grew up in his home county, and after the public 
schools entered the State University and subsequently graduated from 
Brown's Business College. He entered an active business career at the age 
of eighteen. At that time, in 1902, he became cashier of his father's bank 
at Mahomet, and has steadily looked after the management of that institu- 
tion for fifteen years, his ability as a financier growing steadily with his 
experience. He is a thorough business man, but also possesses that cordial 
and genial manner which gives him the esteem of all patrons of the bank and 
influential associations with the leading men of the state. 

On June 22, 1909, Mr. Busey married Miss Raye Grant Hanley. Mrs. 
Busey is a daughter of Thomas R. and Maggie G. (Dodson) Hanley, both 
now deceased. She was liberally educated, graduating from the School of 
Oratory in the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, and also in 
instrumental music in the conservatory of music of that college. For 
several years before her marriage she lived in Chicago, and still retains her 
membership in a Presbyterian Church of that city. She is active in the 
Domestic Science Club of Mahomet. 

Mr. Busey served two years as tax collector of Mahomet Township, and 
for the past four years has been village treasurer. He is affiliated with the 
Masonic Lodge at Mahomet and with the Royal Arch Chapter and the 
Knights Templar Commandery No. 68 at Champaign, is also affiliated with 
Lodge No. 529 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Mahomet, and 



924 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

with the local camp of the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. and Mrs. 
Busey have one of the beautiful homes of Mahomet, and it is widely known 
for the cordial hospitality that prevails within its doors. Mr. and Mrs. 
Busey have traveled widely, and in 1909 made an extensive tour of Canada 
and the northeastern states, including Montreal, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, 
Detroit and other principal cities. 

JOHN W. BOCOCK, a retired business man at Sidney, has had an 
unusual range of experience varying from that of an old time telegraph 
operator to a cotton planter and farmer. Much of his active career has 
been passed in Champaign County but his business acquaintance is widely 
extended. 

Mr. Bocock was born near Washington Courthouse in Fayette County, 
Ohio, December 20, 1849. His parents were Elijah and Louisa (Gregory) 
Bocock, both natives of Ohio. His father came to Sidney and Cham- 
paign County October 12, 1856, and identified himself with the pioneer 
element in this county as a farmer. He did not live long after coming, 
his death occurring July 4, 1864, in the village of Sidney. There were 
four children : Nancy Maria, who died June 3, 1862 ; Martha Jane, who 
died October 16, 1864; Belle, widow of J. S. Frantz and living at Dan- 
ville, Illinois; and John W. 

John W. Bocock was fifteen years old when his father died. His 
mother and two sisters being left upon their own resources it was neces- 
sary for the only son to put forth his efforts in assisting to support the 
family. His sister Belle did likewise but Martha Jane was ill and able 
to do but little. In June, 1866, the mother married Paul Laybourn, of 
Sidney, and John W. Bocock and his sister went to the new home in 
that village, Belle remaining until she married a few months later, while 
John W. was part of the family circle until the spring of 1870. 

Paul Laybourn by his marriage to Mrs. Louisa Bocock had one child; 
Roberta, now Mrs. R. L. Thomas, of Detroit, Michigan. Paul Laybourn 
died in March, 1872. Mr. Bocock's mother, left twice a widow, survived 
to the good old age of seventy-eight, passing away March 24, 1901. 

Even before his father's death, as early as 1863, John W. Bocock 
contributed in a measure to his own support by clerking in a grocery 
store owned by John Upp of Sidney. Later he did similar service in the 
grocery store of T. J. Youngblood & Company, in which his parents had 
a small interest. On April 1, 1870, he entered the store of Henry Coffeen 
at Homer, Illinois, his position on the payroll being at ten dollars per 
month. Three months later he went to Lafayette, Indiana, and spent 
some time peddling goods from a wagon throughout the country district. 
Returning to Homer, he worked for M. D. Coffeen in a general store until 
May 1, 1871. His next experience was at Chicago, where in Porter's 
National Telegraph College he was a student three months. In those 
days of his early career his means were very limited, consequently with 
three other young men he did the janitor work of the office and college 
hall for his room rent. This gave him free access to the instruments out 
of school hours and this opportunity was utilized late and early. 

After three months Mr. Bocock secured his certificate for capability 
in sending thirty words and receiving twenty-five words per minute. 
Returning to Champaign County he entered the office of John Shutts, 
agent and operator for the Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway at Philo, 
in the capacity of a cub, and remained there until February 22, 1872, 
when he was assigned to the night office at Catlin, Illinois, and ten months 
later was transferred to the night office at Homer. He was finally 
advanced to day operator and continued handling the telegraph key there 



HISTOKY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 925 

until December 22, 1874, when he was given the joint position of agent 
and operator at Philo. On March 1, 1881, he resigned his position, thus 
closing his railroad and telegraph service. During these years of employ- 
ment as an operator Mr. Bocock taught nine young men the art of the 
Morse system, and all of them did good work for themselves and their 
employers. Two of these young men have since risen to places of 
eminence in the railroad world. One is Mr. H. A. Boomer, now general 
manager of the Lake Erie and Western Eailway, with headquarters at 
Indianapolis. Another is S. A. Hess, of Decatur, traveling passenger 
agent of the Wabash Eailway. 

On giving up railroad work Mr. Bocock came to Sidney and bought 
the old park elevator. He remained in the grain business there until the 
following winter, when he sold out, and on April 1, 1882, engaged in the 
general merchandising business at Sidney with his father-in-law, under 
the firm name of Fisher & Bocock. That firm continued for five years. 
The stock of merchandise was then traded for land in Coffey County, 
Kansas. It is only fair to say that Kansas land proved to be a poor 
investment and after a few years was disposed of at a discount. After 
the closing out of the general country store Mr. Bocock was associated with 
Winston's Bank for three years in the capacity of bookkeeper and cashier. 
Then with A. C. Woody he engaged in the wholesale confectionery and 
fruit business at Decatur, Illinois, for one year when they moved the 
business to Champaign. On February 7, 1893, the whole plant was 
destroyed by fire. 

In 1896, when J. S. McCullough was elected auditor of public accounts, 
Mr. Bocock was chairman of the County Board of Supervisors while Mr. 
McCullough was county clerk. Hence they were closely associated in 
county affairs. Without any solicitations the newly elected auditor 
tendered an appointment to Mr. Bocock as state inspector of building and 
loan associations. This was. accepted and in January, 1897 he was 
assigned work in Chicago. Just at that time there was much trouble 
among the building and loan associations and Mr. Bocock, together with 
Inspector C. B. Phaler, did a valuable work in putting Chicago associa- 
tions in a more prosperous condition. For some of the associations he 
acted as custodian and otherwise entered vitally into the management 
and rehabilitation of the concerns. After a few years in building and 
loan association work Mr. Bocock was transferred to the banking depart- 
ment of the auditor in the capacity of bank examiner, serving the state 
altogether ten years in these two positions. 

On July 1, 1900, Mr. Bocock was one of the four men who organized 
the Cotton Exchange Bank at Cleveland, Mississippi. Having acquired 
some interests in the south he gravitated naturally into real estate invest- 
ments and with Mr. G. D. Boone bought a cotton plantation adjoining the 
town of Cleveland, consisting of 1,003 acres. They took title on March 
1, 1904. For six years they continued as extensive cotton growers, Mr. 
Bocoek spending much of his time on the plantation. He then bought 
out the interest of his partner and continued the operation of the planta- 
. tion alone until 1912, when he sold out. 

On September 1, 1912, Mr. Bocock bought the Nel?on Sampson farm 
of 170 acres in Sidney Township and he still owns that property, and he 
and his wife jointly own the A. P. Coffeen farm. While he thus owns 
some of the best situated and most valuable farm lands of this part of 
Champaign County he has been practically retired from active business for 
several years. 

Mr. Bocock married September 16, 1874, Mary Fisher, daughter of 
Martin and Jane (Hays) Fisher. Three children were born to their 

2 26 



926 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

marriage: Oral F., wife of E. J. Lehman, of Sidney; Jennie L., wife of 
W. C. Rice, of Fairmount, Illinois; and Mattie Fay, who died February 
15, 1888. 

In the spring of 1874, while he was working as a telegraph operator, 
Mr. Bocock bought a small residence property in Homer. This was the 
initial step toward making a home and he partly furnished it before his 
marriage. The newly wedded couple began housekeeping September 25th 
of the same year and on the 22nd of December following he took up his 
new work at Philo, as before stated. In 1877 he traded the Homer 
property in on 152 acres of land in Philo Township, getting a fair price 
for the town property and taking the land at a little less than $25 per 
acre. About 1883 he sold this land for $41.65 an acre on ten years time. 
Less than five years later he offered to buy it back at $75 an acre, but 
the owner refused to part with it. 

In 1880 Martin Fisher settled upon each of his four children 160 
acres of land, Mrs. Bocock receiving the northwest quarter of section 7, 
township 18, range 10 east, a tract which she still owns. At the death 
of her father by mutual consent of the heirs she received as her portion 
of her father's landed interest in Sidney Township the undivided one- 
half of the A. P. Coffeen farm, which had been acquired by the firm of 
Fisher & Bocock. In 1899 Mr. Bocock bought from A. M. Coffeen the 
west half of the northeast quarter of section 23, township 18, range 10 
east for $75 per acre in cash. In 1904 he and his wife deeded this eighty 
acres to their two daughters. As already noted, on returning to Sidney 
in 1881 Mr. Bocock bought the residence property he now occupies and 
which has been the home of the family during all the passing years. 

In matters of politics Mr. Bocock is a Republican. He has long been 
identified with public affairs in his home locality and county, has been 
president of the village board, a school director, member of the county 
board, and for several years acted as chairman of the county board. 

HENRY M. BROWNFIELD is one of the old timers of Champaign County 
and has had his home in this region since early childhood and for a period of 
more than sixty years. The honor and respect due him are the result not 
only of long residence, painstaking work and management as a practical 
farmer, but also to his most creditable record as a soldier in the Union Army 
during the Civil War. 

Mr. Brownfield is a native of Missouri, having been born in Shelby 
County, October 15, 1842. His parents, John R. and Susan (Mullens) 
Brownfield, were both natives of Kentucky, and were pioneers in north- 
eastern Missouri, where they married. In 1851 the family came to Illinois 
and settled eight miles north of Urbana. 

Henry M. Brownfield was one of seven children. He obtained his early 
education by attending an old log school house on the prairie, known as the 
Peters' school. He had barely finished his lessons when the war cloud arose, 
and in the exciting times of 1861, when every youth responded to the call of 
patriotism, he enlisted at Homer, and was sent to Hannibal, Missouri, where 
on October 1, 1861, two weeks before his nineteenth birthday, he was sworn 
into the service of the United States. He remained performing camp duty 
at Hannibal from October to the following February. Mr. Brownfield was 
a member of Company F of the Twenty-sixth Illinois Infantry. 

He was in active service almost continuously throughout the four years 
of the war. His first service was with Pope's expedition down the Missis- 
sippi River to Island No. 10. He and his comrades fought at New Madrid, 
Missouri, had a skirmish at Point Pleasant, and were in the Missouri cam- 
paign from March 6, to April 6, 1862. Crossing the Mississippi, they cap- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 927 

tured Rebel prisoners at Island No. 10, and then at New Madrid they took 
a boat and went to Corinth, landing above Shiloh. They fought at Farm- 
ington, near Corinth, and took part in the siege of that Mississippi city. 
They next followed General Price down to Ripley, returned to Camp Clear 
Creek, and then had a part in the great battle at luka, Mississippi, where the 
Union troops won the day. The Union forces there were under the command 
of General Rosecrans and 400 of the Union command were killed. They 
fought Price's command two days at Corinth, on October 3 and 4, 1862, and 
then followed the retreating Confederates for two days from Corinth. Price 
made a turn and came back and struck General Hulbert, soon again in 
retreat, and the Illinois troops captured all his camp equipment. The com- 
mand in which Mr. Brownfield was a member then returned to Corinth, and 
soon took up the Vicksburg campaign. Here under Sherman Mr. Brown- 
field was in some of the notable exploits of the campaign. He was on the 
transports convoyed down the Mississippi by Porter's fleet, running past the 
batteries at Vicksburg, down to the mouth of the Yazoo River and up that 
stream to Snyder's Bluff. Here they were in camp until Pemberton sur- 
rendered Vicksburg to Grant. They next took part in the sixteen days' 
siege of Jackson, returning to Vicksburg and taking boat for Memphis, and 
from there went east in the campaign involving the battles of Lookout 
Mountain and Chattanooga. He was in the battle of Missionary Ridge and 
was then part of the expedition sent to relieve the besieged Knoxville. After 
that the troops returned to Chattanooga and from there to Colliersville. 
On January 4, 1864, Mr. Brownfield re-enlisted for the three years or during 
the war. He had had a long and arduous experience, but was not yet satis- 
fied, and determined to see the war victoriously completed. At his re-enlist- 
ment he and his comrades were given a thirty days' furlough and he spent 
that time pleasantly visiting his Illinois home. He rejoined his command 
at Colliersville, and was then on the march to the sea with Sherman. Many 
times he sang the famous sons which celebrated that march, and it is the 
testimony of Mr. Brownfield that it was much easier to sing it than make 
the march itself. He fought at Kingston, and at Dallas, Georgia, on May 
28th was wounded in the shoulder and jaw and was sent to a hospital. He 
was given a furlough July 12th, and again went home for thirty days. In 
November, 1864, he tried to rejoin his command, but got only as far as 
Chattanooga, where he spent the winter. He was then sent to Nashville, and 
took boat up the Ohio River. The boat stuck in the ice and the troops were 
taken off and transported by railroad through Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, to 
Harrisburg, to Annapolis, Maryland, and there conveyed down the bay and 
around the sea past Cape Henry and Cape Hatteras, where the vessel en- 
countered a severe gale and he suffered the inclemencies of the rough sea for 
four days and four nights. The troops were finally landed at Morehead City, 
North Carolina, fought at Newbern and near Raleigh, and were clearing 
that district of the remnants of the Confederate Army when peace was 
declared and the glad tidings of Lee's surrender were hailed with joy by 
all the weary soldiers, particularly Mr. Brownfield, who had been out for 
nearly four years. 

On July 2, 1865, the veteran soldier, still not yet twenty-three years of age, 
was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, and returned home. 

During one of his furloughs he had married Miss Elizabeth McClughen. 
Mrs. Brownfield was born in St. Joseph Township of Champaign County, a 
daughter of Robertson and Jane (McCammon) McClughen. Her parents 
were natives of Ohio, and had come to Illinois when quite young and were 
married in Champaign County. Elizabeth McClughen was one of nine 
children and she received her early advantages with her brothers and sisters 
in an old log cabin school house. 



928 HISTOEY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Brownfield settled in Urbana. Ten 
children were born to them, named Oscar M., Clara lona, Susan Orpha, 
Charles, George, Eosa, Freddie, Grace, Simeon and Jane. Mr. and Mrs. 
Brownfield gave their children all possible advantages and sent them to the 
Pleasant Grove school. Again and again have these worthy people experi- 
enced the sorrows of mortal life, and one by one they laid their children to 
rest, until only one now survives. This is the youngest daughter, Jane. She 
was liberally educated and was a successful school teacher in Champaign 
County, as was also her husband. She married Norton Mahorney. They 
have one child, Corrinne Elizabeth, born June 27, 1917, the only grand- 
child of Mr. and Mrs. Brownfield, and the delight of the entire family. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brownfield enjoy a comfortable home in St. Joseph Town- 
ship, and while the years have brought them many sorrows they have also 
brought them the satisfaction of efforts extended and the results of fruitful 
toil. Both are active members of the Christian Church, and in politics Mr. 
Brownfield is a Eepublican. He served as constable four years and has 
always done his part in community affairs. 

ISAAC DIVAN when a small boy fought for the preservation of the 
Union, some years later came to this part of Illinois, built a home and 
developed a farm, and for the past nine years has enjoyed the comforts of 
retirement in his pleasant and attractive home at Ogden. 

Mr. Divan was born in Licking County, Ohio, September 26, 1848, 
son of Jacob and Ellen (Jones) Divan. His father was a native of Penn- 
sylvania. There were nine children, six daughters and three sons, in the 
family, all of whom received their education in the primitive district 
schools of Licking County. There were no such opportunities for an edu- 
cation open to the boys of that day as at present, and Mr. Divan recalls 
the scantily furnished log buildings in which he learned his early lessons. 
When he was seven years of age his father was killed by a falling tree 
and at an early age he had to assume responsibilities in advance of his years. 

He was not yet thirteen when the war broke out between the North and 
the South, and as the war progressed he found himself unable to restrain 
his enthusiasm and passion for his country, and with about eighteen other 
boys went to Newark, Ohio, and became members of Company L in the 
First Eegiment of United States Engineers. This regiment was sent to 
relieve some of the veteran troops whose time had expired. They recruited 
and disciplined at Todd's Barracks in Columbus, were sent to Chattanooga, 
did garrison duty and other work in Tennessee, and after five months of 
active service Mr. Divan was mustered out at Nashville, and received his 
honorable discharge. 

In the meantime his mother and family had moved to Indiana, and he 
joined them at Logansport in Cass County. He was there two years, and 
in the. fall of 1867 his family made another stage in the western migra- 
tion, moving from Cass County, Indiana, to Vermilion County, Illinois, 
and settling on a rented farm. Isaac had then to take active control of the 
farm, since his brothers and sisters had left home for themselves. His 
mother kept house for him from 1867 until his marriage in 1878. 

At that date Mr. Divan laid the foundation of his own home by his 
marriage to Anna Eutledge. She was born near Danville, Illinois, daughter 
of William and Charlotte (McVicker) Eutledge, her father a native of 
Kentucky and her mother of Virginia. Both of them were brought to 
Illinois when children by their respective parents, and they grew up and 
married in Vermilion County. 

Mr. and Mrs. Divan after their marriage located near Burr Oak Grove 
in Vermilion County, where he bought eighty acres of land at $9.70 per 



GO 

ti 
GO 

O 

O 




HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 929 

acre. In that locality he kept his home for seven years, when he came 
to Champaign County and has since been a resident of Ogden Township. 
In the Vermilion County location he showed his best efforts as a farmer 
and the passing years brought him success until he had a finely developed 
farm of 100 acres. He had eighty acres in Vermilion County and 100 
acres in Champaign County. He improved his land with good buildings 
and in other ways, and it stands as a monument to his work as a practical 
farmer. 

Three children, two daughters and one son, were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Divan, named Nellie, Walter and Stella Ellen. These children were edu- 
cated in the Burr Oak School, while Walter studied in Urbana and in 
Brown's Business College. While in college he fell in love with one of 
his fellow students, Anna Arms, and they were married. His wife died 
in February, 1912. Walter is now connected with a clothing store at 
Champaign. 

The daughter Stella E. married Fernie Clark, a farmer occupying the 
old Divan homestead. They have two children, Rexford Clark and Janice 
Virginia. 

Nellie Divan married Warner Scott. Their one child, Goldie Leone, is 
now Mrs. Clyde Harry of Ogden. Goldie was a student of Olivet College 
near Danville. The daughter Nellie was a young woman of splendid intel- 
lect and many fine qualities of character. She suffered poor health, spent 
some time with her family in the healthful climate of Arizona to no avail, 
and finally contracted pneumonia and died September 23, 1907. Her little 
daughter was taken into the home of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. 
Divan, and carefully reared and educated. 

Mr. and Mrs. Divan have a very attractive and nicely located home 
just at the edge of the town of Ogden, where the advantages of the country 
are combined with the facilities and conveniences of town. This home 
was called the John Lee homestead. Since it came under the ownership of 
Mr. Divan he has made many improvements that add to its value and 
comfort. Mr. and Mrs. Divan are active members of the United Brethren 
Church and he served it as steward eight years. Politically he is a Repub- 
lican, having cast his first vote with that party for General Grant nearly 
fifty years ago, and has never had a valid reason to change his party 
affiliation. 

PEARL M. HOLLINGSWOB.TH. A newspaper which has had a fine and 
vitalizing influence in its community is the Fisher News, of which Mr. 
Hollingsworth is editor and proprietor. This publisher and editor is a 
journalist from the ground up, had his first acquaintance with the print- 
ing trade when a boy and has done much to develop the power of the press 
in this section of Champaign County and has made his paper indispensable 
to business men, farmers and citizens generally. 

Mr. Hollingsworth is a native of Vermilion County, Illinois, where 
he was born December 20, 1890. He is the youngest of three children, 
two sons and one daughter, born to Henry and Anna (Martin) Hollings- 
worth. The daughter, Delia L., is the wife of Howard Barnes, a well 
known evangelist living in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. The older son, 
Charles T., is a very successful evangelist and now ranks among the first 
in that profession in America. During the great revival which moved 
the country of Wales from center to circumference he was an active worker 
in that field. 

The father of these children was born in Illinois, had a common school 
education, and is now living at Arrowsmith in McLean County. He is 
a blacksmith by trade. His lineage goes back to England. He was born 



930 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

about 1852, has always been an ardent Republican and is a member of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge at Metcalf, Illinois, and 
belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. His church is the Christian. 
His wife was born in Illinois, was educated in the common schools, and 
was a member of the Methodist Church. 

Pearl Hollingsworth had his first experience in a printing shop as a 
printer's devil at the age of thirteen. Being without means to attend 
.school, he took this as a resource in order to pay his way and gain expe- 
rience, which would prove valuable to him in later life. Throughout his 
career he has stood on the platform of honesty and integrity. His first 
experience as a printer was with the religious magazine Metropolitan 
Church Association. He was there three years, and after that he put in 
practice the modern idea of continuing vocational education by attending 
school half a day and working half a day. He also did a great deal of 
study in his room and has always applied himself earnestly to the mastery 
of the many subjects which are essential to a practical newspaper man. 

About October, 1905, Mr. Hollingsworth found employment with the 
well known firm of R. R. Donnelley & Sons at Chicago. Though only fifteen 
years of age at the time he was soon made "lock up" and "stone man" 
and assistant superintendent of his department. Though one of the 
youngest in the establishment he had some very taxing responsibilities. 
He was with that firm sixteen months, and then returned to the Metropol- 
itan Church Association, which was then published at Waukesha, Wiscon- 
sin. He became foreman in the composing room. This publication was 
one of the largest business concerns in Waukesha City. In October, 1907, 
Mr. Hollingsworth went to Detroit to become identified with a large firm 
of that city, but in the panic of 1907 nearly all the force was discharged 
and he among them. He continued a resident of Detroit until August, 
1908, when he went back to Waukesha and was there about a year and 
in 1909 entered the service of the American Tag Company at Chicago. He 
was there about two years and for a time was with the printing firm of 
Rogers & Hall, where he remained until 1912. On account of illness Mr. 
Hollingsworth was then compelled to leave the confining duties of city 
life and he came to Fisher, Illinois, to recuperate. This town has been 
his home since 1912 except for the portion of a year he spent with the 
Rantoul News at Rantoul. On returning to Fisher he went to work with 
the Fisher Reporter, and remained there until the present paper, The 
Fisher News, was establishd on May 8, 1913. Mr. Hollingsworth secured 
the full support of all the merchants of Fisher, and through the cordial 
co-operation of his fellow citizens has made the Fisher News a power 
throughout the northwestern section of Champaign County. The News 
is a weekly publication, six column quarto, and would be a credit to any 
county in Illinois. The circulation is fully represented in the surround- 
ing country. In the equipment is a fine Diamond press. The paper is 
published independent in politics. 

Mr. Hollingsworth married June 4, 1914, Miss Edna B. Arm- 
strong, daughter of J. B. and Anna (Boskill) Armstrong, who are now 
living at Fisher. Mrs. Hollingsworth was educated in the common schools 
of McLean County. She is an active member of the Christian Church of 
Fisher and belongs to the Domestic Science Club. Politically Mr. 
Hollingsworth has worked with and has been a factor in the Republican 
party. His first vote was given to Colonel Roosevelt for President. He 
is now serving as clerk of Brown Township. Fraternally he is active 
in Lodge No. 704 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Fisher and 
belongs to the Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America at the same 
place. His church is the Christian denomination. Mr. Hollingsworth 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 931 

was one of the leading spirits in the organization of the Community 
Welfare Association and served as its secretary two years. This associa- 
tion is composed of merchants, business men and all members of the 
community in and around Fisher who are truly interested in and willing 
to work for those objects which can only be accomplished by community 
co-operation. The membership now includes about seventy. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hollingsworth stand very high in the estimation of all the people of 
Fisher and they have well earned a place of esteem in the locality. 

MARION E. LEIGH, whose home is in the village of St. Joseph, has spent 
a very active career in the agricultural pursuits of Champaign County and 
is a member of one of the old families of this section. 

Mr. Leigh married Clara B. Leas. She was born in Stanton Township, 
Champaign County, a daughter of William C. and Margaret (Argo) Leas. 
Her father was a native of Indiana and her mother of Ohio, and the family 
were early settlers in Champaign County. 

William C. Leas served three years in the Union Army in Company H of 
the Seventy-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was part of 
the famous brigade of General Wilder, commonly known as Wilder's Light- 
ning Brigade, and saw some of the heaviest fighting of the war, including 
Chattanooga, Chickamauga, and the Atlantic campaign. William C. Leas 
was mustered out at the close of the war and on receiving his honorable dis- 
charge returned home to Indiana. He married in Illinois and reared a 
family noted for integrity of character and loyal citizenship. He was one 
of the charter members of Prairie Hope Christian Church and he and his 
wife were long identified with that congregation. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Marion E. Leigh remained on her 
father's farm until the death of her parents, and tenderly cared for them 
during the setting sun of life and handed them down to their graves in 
peace. 

Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Leigh, Cora and Etta. They 
were given the best advantages of school and home. Cora completed her 
education in the Urbana High School and then married Vernon E. Varner, 
a farmer in Stanton Township, living on her father's place. The daughter 
Etta carried on her studies in the high school at St. Joseph. Mr. and Mrs. 
Leigh removed to the village of St. Joseph, procuring a residence on Third 
Street. Mr. Leigh while living somewhat retired finds plenty to do and 
goes to his farm every day, traveling in his automobile. Mr. and Mrs. 
Leigh are active members of the Prairie Hope Christian Church in Stanton 
Township and he is one of the deacons and trustees. 

In politics he is a Democrat and a man of broad views, upholding the 
principles of his party and working steadily for good government both in 
county and nation. 

Mr. Leigh has become more than locally known as an extensive breeder 
and raiser of Shorthorn cattle and Percheron horses. He keeps fine regis- 
tered stock and his herd of fifty Shorthorns is regarded as one of the best in 
the entire state. Mr. Leigh has served as road commissioner, as school 
trustee and township supervisor, and in every office and public responsibility 
has justified the confidence of his fellow citizens. 

William C. Leas had an interesting part in connection with the building 
as well as the maintenance of the Prairie Hope Christian Church in Stanton 
Township. Much of the timber entering into the construction grew on trees 
on his father's farm, and it was milled and hauled from Fountain County, 
Indiana. William C. Leas assisted in hauling the lumber and also in the 
work of constructing what was the first country church erected in that part 
of Champaign County. The old building still remains in a good state of 



932 HISTOEY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

preservation, and its seats are of fine walnut timber, almost priceless at the 
present time. It has been a center of religious worship and social commin- 
gling for two generations of people, and both Sunday school and preaching 
services have been held there more or less regularly for many years. In the 
early times on account of the rough and muddy roads church services were 
difficult to maintain with any degree of regularity, but with the era of good 
roads the church has been open almost every Lord's day. 

At the death of William C. Leas he left a farm to each of his three 
children. These three children are George N. Leas, Mrs. Delia Christie of 
Urbana, and Mrs. Marion E. Leigh. Mrs. Leigh inherited the old homestead, 
which she still possesses and cherishes as the home of her birth and girlhood, 
with a host of pleasing associations and memories. George N. Leas has in 
his possession a small Testament which his father carried throughout the 
three years of his army service. During that time the cover was worn off the 
little book twice and he rebound it each time himself. The last time he put 
on a binding made from a piece of fine leather cut from the tops of his army 
boots. The Testament was given into his hands by his Christian mother 
whose prayers followed her boy throughout the many weary campaigns he 
experienced. 

Mrs. Leigh has a greatly prized heirloom of her father, in the form of a 
diary which he kept throughout the war. Perhaps the most interesting 
feature of this is a poem which he wrote when a boy in the army and while 
he was on guard duty at Chattanooga, Tennessee. This poem reads as 
follows : 

"My father is a farmer, 

My brothers are the same, 
But I for love of country 

Have to the army came. 

"And by the prayers of Christians 

My life is spared thus far, 
To them I am indebted 

For God's protecting care. 

"I know that mother often 

In Fountain County there, 
Pours out her soul devoutly 

In humble, heartfelt prayer. 

"And father, too, in secret 

Is offering up his prayer ' 
For his absent son who long since 

Enlisted in the war. 

"And there is sister Lizzie, 

And Arthur and the rest, 
Who often say to Jesus, 
'My absent brother bless.' " 

EGBERT SHIELDS. Among the men who during the past half century 
have done their full share in the agricultural development of Champaign 
County is Eobert Shields, who for the past ten years has been a valued 
resident of the village of Foosland. He was born in Washington County, 
New York, September 25, 1842, and is the fifth in order of birth of nine 
children, five sons and four daughters, born to Francis and Agnes (Oliver) 
Shields. Three of the sons reside in Champaign County, one in Ontario, 
Canada, one in Florida, and one in Chicago, Illinois. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 933 

Francis Shields and his wife were both born in Roxborough, Scotland, 
and they were married there and some of the older children were born in 
Scotland. In 1840 they started for America in a sailing vessel out of 
Liverpool, England, and it was three months before they reached Wash- 
ington County, New York. There Mr. Shields acquired land, but in 
1854 moved to Ontario, Canada, where he engaged in farming during the 
remainder of his active life and was unusually successful. While he lived 
in New York he voted with the Whig party. Both he and wife were 
faithful members of the Presbyterian Church and at death they were 
interred in the Presbyterian Cemetery at Strathroy, Canada, seventy-five 
miles east of Detroit. 

Robert Shields was twelve years old when he accompanied his parents 
to Canada, having previously attended school in New York, which covered 
about his entire educational opportunities. He remained in Canada and 
worked on farms until he was seventeen years of age, when he decided 
to start out for himself, determining to reach Logan County, Illinois. 
When he reached Chicago in March, 1860, he found that he did not have 
enough money to reach his destination but fortunately was able to borrow 
one dollar and when he reached Atlanta, in Logan County, still had fifty 
cents of it. Thus Mr. Shields really did begin at the bottom of the ladder 
when he bravely started out to build up his fortunes. He found farm 
work near Lawndale with wages of $12 per month and probably would 
have continued had not the Civil War come on in 1861. 

It is a tribute to Mr. Shield's courage and patriotism that he was one 
of the earliest to answer the first call of President Lincoln, enlisting on 
April .17, 1861, for three months, in Company H, Seventh Illinois Volun- 
teer Infantry, under the command of Captain C. W. Holden and Colonel 
John Cook. When his term of enlistment expired he returned home but 
in August, 1862, he re-enlisted, entering Company C, One Hundred and 
Sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Captain B. B. Pegram and 
Colonel R. B. Latham, and was in the Sixteenth Army Corps until after 
the siege of Vicksburg, in which he took part. The siege over, this regi- 
ment was assigned to the Seventh Army Corps, under General Fred Steele. 
Their field of operations being Arkansas, they drove the enemy out of 
Little Rock and then engaged in the skirmish at Clarendon. In 1864 
General Steele joined in an expedition with General Banks but was forced 
back to Little Rock, the main object of the Federal army being to keep 
the Confederates from crossing the Mississippi River to give aid to their 
forces operating in Mississippi. At Clarendon Mr. Shields received a 
slight wound in the leg from pn exploding shell but was not otherwise 
injured and was never taken prisoner, although the major part of his 
company and even his captain were captured near Jackson, Tennessee. 
He was mustered out of the service at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, July 12, 
1865, and was honorably discharged August 1, 1865. After three years 
of hard service for his country he then returned home and resumed peace- 
ful life as a farmer. 

Mr. Shields was married December 6, 1865, to Miss Harriet H. 
Maloney, and to them have been born nine children, five sons and four 
daughters, all of whom are living. Sarah, the eldest, married Hugh 
Donahue, a farmer in Brown Township, and they have two children, Earl 
and Nellie, both of whom are married, and there is a little granddaughter, 
Evaline Kathlyne. Mrs. Donahue is a member of the Methodist Protest- 
ant Church. Frank, the eldest son, resides with his parents in Foosland. 
Ella, the third member of the family, is the wife of Charles Hayes, of 
Melvin, Illinois, and they are members of the Methodist Protestant 
Church. Oliver B., the second son, is a successful farmer near Wales, 



934 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

North Dakota, an Odd Fellow and a member of the Methodist Protestant 
Church. He married Sarah King and they have four children : Leda, 
Fern, Eoy and Homer. William H., who is a resident of Foosland, is 
manager of the great Foos estate for the Foos family of New York. He 
married Elizabeth Ball, who is deceased and is survived by three children: 
Roscoe, Tracy and Helen. Mr. Shields is an Odd Fellow and a Knight 
of Pythias. Flora, the sixth in order of birth, resides with her parents 
at Foosland. Fred V., who operates his father's estate in Brown Town- 
ship, belongs to the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. 
He married Marie Anderson and they have three children : Harriet, Ralph 
and Robert. Alta M., who is the youngest daughter, is the wife of S. 0. 
Keltner, who owns a cafe and tonsorial parlors at Selah, Washington, is 
a member, as are the other members of her family, of the Methodist 
Protestant Church. Mr. and Mrs. Keltner have one daughter, Ruth. 
Robert, who is the youngest of Mr. and Mrs. Shields' children, is a very 
highly educated and talented young man. After completing the public 
school course, he attended the State Normal University at Normal, Illinois, 
and afterward taught school in Brown Township. He is identified with 
the Odd Fellows and with the order of Modern Woodmen of America. 
From first to last this family may be held up as representatives of the 
best stock of old Champaign County, reflecting credit on their parents, 
on their home rearing and upon the state under whose wise laws they have 
grown to manhood and womanhood. Their father faced death on many a 
battlefield to insure them such a goodly heritage. 

Mrs. Shields, the beloved mother of the above family, was born April 
2, 1848, in Muskingum County, Ohio, and is a daughter of W. W. and 
Sarah A. (Mauch) Maloney. They had one son and six daughters, the 
survivors, all of whom live in Illinois, being: Harriet; Mary, who is the 
widow of John Keefer, resides at Farmer City; Tabitha, the widow of A. 
Music, is a resident of Chicago; Margaret is the wife of Max Kutnew- 
sky, of Peoria; and W. W. is manager of South Park at Peoria. The 
father of Mrs. Shields was born at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, and 
when a young man rode on horseback from there to Ohio, where he married 
and afterward came, to Illinois. Here the mother of Mrs. Shields died 
in 1873 and the father in 1881. They were members of the Christian 
Church. Mrs. Shields was but a child when her parents made the journey 
from Ohio to Illinois, coming by way of the Ohio, Mississippi and Illinois 
rivers to Pekin. 

Mr. and Mrs. Shields have a very comfortable residence at Foosland. 
His valuable farm of 240 acres lies in Brown Township, and, as mentioned 
above, is under the management of one of the sons. Since retiring to 
Foosland Mr. Shields has taken a good citizen's interest in village affairs, 
but has never consented to serve in office although his Republican friends 
have often urged him to do so. It has been otherwise, however, in Stark 
Post No. 760, Grand Army of the Republic, at Bellflower, of which he is 
an honored member and has been commander and senior commander. 
Mr. and Mrs. Shields are very highly esteemed both in village and 
county. Their hospitable home is ever open to their friends, while to 
their children and grandchildren it is one of the dearest places on earth. 

JOEL WOOD PINKSTON. A portion of the Blue Grass State, long famous 
for the cordiality and southern hospitality of its inhabitants, may be said to 
have been transferred bodily to central Illinois in the beautiful rural home of 
Mr. and Mrs. Joel W. Pinkston, who are in every way representative of the 
best traits of their Kentucky origin. Mr. Pinkston is a former supervisor of 
Newcomb Township, and his farming interests are there, while his post- 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 935 

office is Mahomet. Along with the hospitality that characterizes this place 
there is a high degree of business efficiency. The Pinkston home is known as 
the Gaywood Stock & Grain Farm. It is three and a half miles northwest 
of Mahomet, and fourteen miles from Champaign. Mr. and Mrs. Pinkston 
have come to disregard old time standards of distance, since they now enjoy 
and deserve the luxury of one of the latest models of the National touring 
car. 

In the state whose earliest historical character was Daniel Boone, Joel W. 
Pinkston was born, March 31, 1860. He was the eighth in a family of ten 
children, three sons and seven daughters, born to John Wesley and Amy 
(Parham) Pinkston. The Pinkstons are lineal descendants from a family of 
Scotland. Of the ten children nine are still living and eight are residents 
of Champaign County. John W. Pinkston was also a native of Kentucky, 
was reared and educated there, and prior to the war was owner of some 
slaves. Politically he was an active Democrat. He died in April, 1886. He 
and his wife were both Methodists. His wife was born in Kentucky, March 
30, 1824, and spent her last years at Mahomet, Illinois, where she died, April 
7, 1905. Her lineage was English, since the name Parham is strictly English 
in origin. She was a noble mother and always maintained very complete 
discipline over her home and children. With her home and church were the 
chief interests of her life. She was always devout in the performance of her 
religious duties. She and her husband now rest side by side in the River- 
side Cemetery, where a beautiful monument stands to their memory. 

Joel Wood Pinkston grew up in Kentucky, secured his education there 
and lived at home until he was twenty-one, when he came to Champaign 
County and began as a farm laborer at wages of $18 a month. Thus the 
prosperity of his later years has been won by much self denying exertion and 
the diligence which makes men successful in every vocation. As a wage 
earner he continued three years, and for ten years was a tenant farmer in 
Mahomet Township. He finally contracted for the purchase of eighty acres 
in section 32, of Newcomb Township. He made that deal in 1893, the year 
of financial panic, and went in debt for a large part of the purchase money. 
By persistent effort and never ending vigilance and toil he paid out and then 
went in debt to the extent of $10,000 for another eighty acres. At the 
present time Mr. Pingston's home, the Gaywood Stock & Grain Farm, 
comprises 320 acres, all rich and fertile lands, with exceptional improve- 
ments in the way of buildings and barns, and there is not a dollar of indebt- 
edness on the place. Mr. Pinkston also owns city property in Champaign, a 
short distance from the State University Buildings. 

On March 25, 1884, soon after coming to Champaign County, he married 
Miss Julia Maxwell. To this union were born five children, four sons and 
one daughter. Jesse Earl, the oldest, has a clerical position in St. Louis, 
Missouri. He pursued his early studies in the Mahomet High School and 
also took a business course in Brown's Business College at Champaign. He 
is a Democrat and a member of the Knights of Pythias. Willie Lee, the 
second child, attended the Mahomet High School, Brown's Business College 
at Champaign, and by profession is a civil engineer. At present he is serving 
as auditor for the Pacific Fruit Express Company, with home and head- 
quarters at Grand Island, Nebraska. He is a member of the Elks Lodge at 
Denver, Colorado, and politically is a Democrat. Susie May, the only 
daughter, spent four years in the Champaign High School and is now the 
wife of Ira Carl Abbott, a successful young farmer in Mahomet Township. 
Both she and her husband are members of the Baptist Church. They have 
two children, grandchildren of Mr. Pinkston, named Edwin Pinkston and 
Julia Ruth. Ervin J., the fourth child, graduated in 1912 from the 
Mahomet High School and followed agriculture at home with his father 



936 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

until death claimed him on September 23, 1917. He lies buried in the 
Riverside Cemetery. He was a Democrat and a member of the Baptist 
Church. Julian 0. has for the past two years been a cadet student in the 
Missouri Military Academy at Mexico, and belongs to the class of 1919. 
He has taken great interest in his work and military training. He has 
membership in the Baptist Church at Mahomet. 

The mother of these children died November 9, 1899. Mr. Pinkston was 
married December 6, 1905, to Miss Harriet Gay Norton. Mrs. Pinkston was 
born in Missouri, but when four years of 1 age her parents removed to Piatt 
County, Illinois, and eight years later to Champaign County. Mrs. Pink- 
ston is a woman of culture and unusual education. For three years she was a 
student in the Champaign High School, spent one year in the Decatur 
High School and one year in the State University. For fourteen years she 
was a popular and successful teacher in Champaign County, and during the 
latter part of that work she was connected with the grade schools of Cham- 
paign. Mr. and Mrs. Pinkston are members of the Baptist Church at 
Mahomet, and he is one of the deacons of the church. She served as presi- 
dent of the Domestic Science Club at Mahomet, and since her marriage has 
devoted herself to the interests of her home, her community, and has proved 
an invaluable business counsellor to her husband in his business affairs. In 
1909 Mr. and Mrs. Pinkston made an extended tour through the great North- 
west and down the Pacific Coast, stopping at the cities of Portland, Seattle, 
Tacoma, San Francisco, and Salt Lake City. They also visited the Yellow- 
stone National Park, Colorado Springs, and Denver. The outgoing trip 
was made by the Canadian Pacific, which took them through some of the 
most grandly scenic region on the American continent. At Salt Lake City, 
they entered the Mormon Temple, and were given a practical test of its 
wonderful acoustic properties, when a lead pencil dropped at the extreme end 
of the building could be heard plainly from where they stood. For seven 
weeks Mr. and Mrs. Pinkston enjoyed the delights of this tour. 

Mr. Pinkston is a Democrat and first voted for Grover Cleveland. He 
has always supported the principles of the party and at different times has 
been a delegate to county conventions. His official record is that of a public 
spirited and thoroughly progressive citizen. For fourteen years he served as 
school director and in June, 1905, was appointed township supervisor and 
thereafter was elected for each successive year until he had filled this impor- 
tant office, the highest in the township, for twelve years. Mr. Pinkston is a 
member of Castle Hall Lodge of Knights of Pythias at Mahomet. 

RICHARD M. FRANKS. One of the representative citizens of Philo, 
Illinois, is Richard M. Franks, who not only is managing important bus- 
iness interests but is also one of the trustworthy public officials of town- 
ship and village. Mr. Franks was born in Saxony, Germany, February 7, 
1868, to which province his people have belonged for generations. His 
parents were Frederick and Julia (Wiedeman) Franks. They came from 
Germany to the United States in 1881 and located at Philo in Champaign 
County, Illinois. There the father died in 1897, the mother passing away 
at a later date in the city of Dubuque, Iowa. They were the parents of 
two sons, Richard M. and Otto, the latter of whom died in Germany. 

Richard M. Franks was thirteen years old when the family came to 
Champaign County and his schooldays were about ended. He went to 
work on a farm and continued to be interested in agricultural pursuits 
until 1904, in which year he came to Philo village and established a 
lumber yard here and later a yard also at Sidney, and since then has done 
a large business in this line. He is also agent for the Ford and Stude- 
baker automobiles. Mr. Franks is a man of unusual business enterprise 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 937 

and in furthering his own business concerns has done well for others in 
affording employment to a number of men and paying good wages. 

Mr. Franks was married December 27, 1895, to Miss Alice M. Trost, 
and they have become the parents of seven children, as follows: Lyman, 
who lived but two and one-half years; and Royal M., John Edward, Lyle 
Harold, Richard Eugene, Frederick Paul and Wayne Trost. Mr. Franks 
and his family belong to the Lutheran Church. 

In politics Mr. Franks has always been a sincere Democrat and at all 
times loyally supports the party nominees. That he is a man in whom 
his fellow citizens place implicit confidence may be inferred from the 
fact that many times he has been elected to important public offices and 
at the present time is serving as village clerk of Philo and is a member 
of the village school board and is also assessor of Philo Township. 

JAMES THOMPSON, a veteran Union soldier, and long identified with 
Champaign County as a practical farmer, has known this county through all 
its stages of progress and transformation for the past sixty-five years. 

Mr. Thompson is still a hale and hearty man for all his seventy-five 
years. He cannot recall all the circumstances of his many birthday anniver- 
saries, but one of these birthdays is lastingly impressed upon his mind. It 
was his tenth. On that day, sixty-five years ago, the Thompson family 
arrived in Champaign County and settled in Homer Township. James 
Thompson was born in Missouri, October 9, 1842, a son of David and Mary 
A. (Hechney) Thompson. The father was born in Ohio and the mother in 
Missouri, and in that state they were married. Of their five children James 
was the oldest. 

When the family came to Champaign County in 1852, they located 
in the new and sparsely settled district of Homer Township, where James 
attended school and he also had some of the advantages of the public schools 
of Sidney Township. He had not reached his majority when the great 
Civil War broke out, and in that time of excitement and strenuous patriotism 
he determined to do what he could to guard the integrity of the Union. 
When he was about twenty-two years of age he enlisted in Company I of the 
Tenth Illinois Cavalry. This was a gallant regiment that did much effective 
service. He was with the regiment at Little Rock, Arkansas, where the 
Tenth Illinois Cavalry did a splendid service, foraging, breaking the enemy's 
line of communications, reconnoitering, and making extended forays into the 
enemy's country. From Little Rock they went to Camden, and then went 
south into Texas, later to Shreveport, Louisiana, to Mobile, Alabama, were 
ordered two different times to New Orleans, were sent to Memphis, were 
taken up and down the river three times and were almost constantly exposed 
to the hard work and danger of military life as scouts and aids to the 
infantry in holding strategical points. Mr. Thompson was with this regiment 
for nearly two years, and was finally mustered out at New Orleans, and 
returned to Springfield, Illinois, where he received his honorable discharge. 

The war over, he resumed the occupations of peace, and on December 
13, 1867, married Miss Ann Busey. Mrs. Thompson is a member of one of 
Champaign County's most notable families. She was born in Sidney Town- 
ship, September 8, 1850, a daughter of Fountain J. and Marie L. (Shepard) 
Busey. Her father was born in Kentucky, and her mother at Darbysville, 
Ohio. They came to Illinois as young people and were married at Urbana. 
Mrs. Thompson was one of fifteen children. She received her early educa- 
tion in the district school of Sidney Township. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Thompson remained in Sidney Town- 
ship and rented a farm, and subsequently moved to Urbana Township, where 
Mr. Busey had given his daughter a farm, on which they lived and laid the 



938 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

foundation of their prosperity for twelve years. Later they went to St. 
Joseph Township and bought the 160 acres which they still own. This 
their labors have converted into a splendid farm and country place. They 
built a commodious home, many other buildings, planted fruit and shade 
trees, and the entire estate now stands as a monument to their long con- 
tinued industry. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson may well take pride in their material achieve- 
ments, but even more in the splendid family of children who have grown up 
in their home. They are nine in number, named Fred, Burt, Clint, Daisy, 
Millie, Winnie, Charles, Burley F. and Guy. These children did not lack 
for educational opportunities and advantages. They attended the public 
schools of St. Joseph Township and have had other advantages both at hom<}' " 
and abroad. The son Fred is now a practical farmer in Somer Township^ 
and by his marriage to Hattie Corey has three daughters, Ruth, Helen anc 
Carrie. Burt, who lives at Weston, Ohio, retired, married Florence Cailj 
Clint, whose home is in Fort Wayne, Indiana, married Lillian Treese, 
their five children are Jennie, Dorothy, James, Herbert and Dean Busey. 
The daughter Daisy is the wife of Burt Tompkins, and their three children 
are Rhuel, Marie and Leon. Winnie is the wife of Sanford White, of Urbana 
Township. Charles, a farmer in Stanton Township, married Marie Andre, 
and has a daughter, Marjorie. Three of the children are still at home assist- 
ing in the labors of the farm and the management of the household. They 
are Burley and Guy and Millie. 

In matters of politics Mr. Thompson is stanchly aligned with the Demo- 
cratic party. He believes that President Wilson is the man of the hour and 
has faith in his steady hand and calm judgment as the great resource for 
bringing the country out of its present time of trial and stress. Mr. Thomp- 
son filled many of those positions indicative of public esteem and has been 
school director fifteen years, road commissioner and in other local posts of 
responsibility. The six sons are all members of the Masonic order and the 
Knights of Pythias, while Fred is also an Odd Fellow and Woodman. Fred 
Thompson has served two terms as supervisor of Somer Township. The 
three daughters are all members of the Eastern Star. Mr. and Mrs. 
Thompson also have one great-grandchild, June Elizabeth Merchimer, 
daughter of Ruth Thompson, now Mrs. Ruth Merchimer. Mrs. Merchimer 
was graduated in music from the University of Illinois. 

Mrs. Thompson, as member of one of Champaign County's oldest 
families, has some interesting family heirlooms. One is the mirror used by 
her Grandfather Busey, in Kentucky, when he first went to housekeeping. 
Her Grandmother Shepard came from Germany, and brought with her three 
sets of silver spoons, and these have since been distributed among friends 
and relatives. Mrs. Thompson also has a quilt pieced by her Grandmother 
Busey, in Kentucky, from linen woven by herself. 

On Friday, September 8, 1917, the entire family of Mr. and Mrs. 
Thompson returned home to celebrate the mother's birthday, she being then 
sixty-seven years of age. This was a very great pleasure to both Mr. and 
Mrs. Thompson. 

f i 

ELMER A. RUSH has been individually carrying the burdens of agri- 
culture in Champaign County for many years. Business has prospered 
under his hand and he has enjoyed many of the good things of life, includ- 
ing a good home and the riches of esteem paid him by his fellow citizens. 
Mr. Rush was born in Philo Township of this county September 30, 
1877, a son of William and Florence A. (Keeble) Rush. His father 
was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of Vermont. William Rush 
came to Illinois when a young man and after a brief residence in Marshall 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 939 

County removed to Champaign County and was engaged in farming in 
Crittenden Township until his death in August, 1910. The mother died 
in 1912. They were the parents of nine children: Elsie, who died in 
infancy; May, living at Philo; Bertha, who died in infancy; Viola F.,. 
wife of H. W. Fiscus, of Philo; Elmer A., Eva E., who lives with her 
brother Elmer; William A., Hubert and Sheridan, all deceased. 

Elmer A. Rush received his education in the district schools of Cham- 
paign County. His earlier experiences were as a farmer and for a time 
he was in the drug business at Philo. In 1906 he began his career as 
a renter, having at first eighty acres for two years in Crittenden Town- 
ship, following which he had 160 acres in Philo Township, and his subse- 
quent farm enterprise has been conducted in Sidney Township, where he 
has the active management of 240 acres in section 7. He is engaged in 
general farming and stock raising. His home is on Rural Route No. 11 
out of Urbana. 

On February 18, 1903, Mr. Rush married Miss Blanche Minich, a 
native of Champaign County. Their only child, Wilma Eileen, was born 
in 1915 and died in infancy. While living in Philo Township Mr. Rush 
served as trustee of the local schools. He is a Republican, a member of 
the Modern Woodmen of America and the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, and he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

JOSEPH E. LOWERY, M. D. As a competent physician and surgeon 
Doctor Lowery has been known in Champaign County for a number of 
years. He began practice over thirty years ago, his early experience in 
the profession being in the State of Iowa. 

Doctor Lowery is a native of Stark County, Ohio, where he was born 
November 13, 1861. His parents, Joseph and Mary (Simmons) Lowery, 
were natives of Pennsylvania. His father was a farmer and school teacher. 
In 1869 the family located in McLean County, Illinois, and in 1882 went 
to Greene County, Iowa, where Joseph Lowery died in 1888 and his wife 
1893. They were the parents of eight children : Frances, Wesley W. and 
Warren W., all deceased; Walter W., a farmer at Oxford, Nebraska; Nancy, 
wife of William Fleetwood, of Nebraska; Alice, wife of Dr. A. C. All- 
bright, of Danville, Illinois ; Joseph E. ; and Minnie Florence, deceased. 

Doctor Lowery spent most of his early life on his father's farm in 
McLean County, Illinois. Besides the advantages of the country schools 
he attended the high school at Lexington, Illinois, and subsequently took 
up the study of medicine in the State University of Iowa City. He was 
graduated M. D. from Drake University at Des Moines in 1885, and the 
following year he practiced at Waukee and another year at Rippy, Iowa. 

Returning to Illinois, Doctor Lowery practiced five years in McLean 
County, and after that was identified with a growing professional business 
at Foosland in Champaign County. In 1902 he removed to Homer, where 
he has had a large general practice as a physician and surgeon for the past 
fifteen years. Doctor Lowery is a good business man, and is the owner of 
two drug stores in Danville, his son Joseph being active manager of these 
stores. Doctor Lowery is a Republican in politics. 

September 12, 1889, he married Georgia Leake, a native of Blooming- 
ton, Illinois. Their only child is Joseph C., of Danville. 

JACOB S. COONS. For nearly sixty years Jacob S. Coons has been a 
resident of Champaign County. He knew the county when it was wild 
prairie and swamp, and knows it as one of the garden spots of the world. 
He came here in the flush of young manhood, with little more than his 
native thrift and industry, and has found all those rewards which satisfy 



940 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

the ambitious man in material well being, family, home and community 
esteem. 

Mr. Coons was born in Tompkins County, New York, eight miles from 
the University City of Ithaca, a son of William and Christina (Smith) 
Coons. His father was also a native of New York State and his mother 
of Virginia. Jacob was the second in a family of six children, all of whom 
were educated in the public schools of New York and of the state of Ohio. 
Jacob was a small child when the family removed to Ohio. 

After reaching young manhood he went back to his native state, remain- 
ing there six years, and in 1858 came to Illinois. He settled in St. Joseph 
Township and found work with a farmer. 

Mr. Coons married for his first wife Sarah Cowden, a native of Illinois. 
After her death he married Angela Cox. She was the mother of two chil- 
dren. Addie L. is now Mrs. Nelden, living in Oklahoma City and the 
mother of one child, Hazel Armstrong. Arthur Clement, the second child 
of this union, is a successful farmer, now occupying his father's old home- 
stead in St. Joseph Township. He married Ollie Deer of Sidney, and 
they have four children, Ethel, Gilbert, Nora and Jacob S. 

For his third wife Mr. Coons married Emma Z. Crowell, who was born 
in Indiana, a daughter of John and Diantha (Jennison) Crowell. She was 
only two years of age when the family came to Illinois, and as one of eight 
children she grew up and received her education in the public schools of 
Champaign County. Mr. and Mrs. Coons had two children, Edith and 
Walter. They were well educated in the local schools and the high school 
at St. Joseph. Edith also took a course in Brown's Business College at 
Champaign and is now the wife of Charles Morris, a farmer in St. Joseph 
Township. Mr. and Mrs. Morris have three children, Charles, Jacob and 
June Emeline. 

When Mr. Coons came to Champaign County the land comprising the 
"Flats" in Compromise Township were all a vast stretch of wild prairie. 
He bought for his first purchase forty acres of this land and applied his 
youth and energy to its development and cultivation. Years brought him 
increasing success and he finally bought 160 acres in St. Joseph Township 
and was successfully engaged in farming and stock raising until about 
fifteen years ago, when he and his wife removed to the village of St. 
Joseph, leaving the farm in the hands of his son Arthur. The other son, 
Walter, is still at home and a barber at St. Joseph. 

Mr. and Mrs. Coons are active members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at St. Joseph, and have been among its most liberal supporters for 
thirty-five years. In politics they are both strongly of the Republican doc- 
trine and believe that party is the best equipped to insure the permanent 
prosperity and integrity of the country. Mr. and Mrs. Coons maintain 
a most hospitable home, and throughout their careers they have endeavored 
to instill the principles of true American citizenship in their children. 
Mr. Coons had two brothers, William and John, who were soldiers during 
the Civil War, and William died while in the service of his country. Mr. 
Coons has always practiced the Golden Rule, and in his declining years he 
has the pleasing retrospect of the past and looks forward to the future 
confidently and without fear. 

THOMAS D. B. STUCKER is one of the honored citizens of Fisher, 
Illinois. His home has been in 'Champaign County for the past thirty- 
six years. His life deserves honor and respect 'for two reasons: First, 
because of the good and honest work he has done as a private citizen, and 
second, as an old soldier who helped to save the nation during the dark 
days from 1861 to 1865. Mr. Stucker, whose ancestry originally was 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 941 

German, was born in Bartholomew County, Indiana, July 13, 1844. He 
was the fifth in a family of fourteen children, eight sons and six daughters, 
born to Jeptha and Elizabeth (Bowman) Stucker. Five of these children 
are still living. Jeptha Stucker was born in the Blue Grass State of Ken- 
tucky, June 22, 1805, and he died in Bartholomew County, Indiana, in 1890, 
when in his eighty-sixth year. On leaving Kentucky he first settled in 
Jefferson County, Indiana, where he married. Possessing a good education, 
he taught school and for thirty-seven years was justice of the peace in 
Bartholomew County. He also served as county assessor. He and his 
wife, who also died in Bartholomew County, were active members of the 
Baptist Church. His main occupation was farming and he possessed a 
well improved place of ninety-three- acres situated seven miles from 
Columbus, Indiana. That farm is still owned and occupied by one of 
his sons. His wife was born in Indiana, October 31, 1812, and died 
June 28, 1886. She was reared in Indiana, and her children rememlber 
her as a kind hearted and loving mother. Through her mother she was 
also descended from German stock. Both Jeptha and wife are ,now at 
rest in St. John's Cemetery in Bartholomew County. 

Thomas D. B. Stucker grew up on the old home farm in Indiana, was 
educated in the common schools, and attended school when they were 
supported on the subscription plan. Mr. Stucker well recalls the old 
log cabin building where he learned some of his first lessons. It was 
heated by a wide fireplace, and the pupils sat on seats made of split logs, 
and in the absence of individual desks for the pupils there was a broad 
board set at an incline on pins driven into the wall, at which the older 
scholars would stand and write out their copy with the old goose quill pen. 

At the age of eighteen Mr. Stucker began making his own way in the 
world as a wage earner. He made thirteen dollars a month for hard work 
on a farm, and he worked from sunup to sundown. From the farm he 
went to work in a tannery at Columbus, Indiana, and put in nine years 
in that business. His final occupation was as a carpenter and joiner, and 
that trade he followed in Indiana and also in Champaign County until 
his retirement from active life. 

When he was about twenty years of age Mr. Stucker enlisted at Colum- 
bus, Indiana, January 5, 1864, in Company A of the One Hundred and 
Forty-fifth Indiana Infantry, under Captain Henry Winters and Colonel 
Will A. Adams. This regiment was assigned to duty under General 
"Pap" Thomas, and his field of action was principally in Tennessee and 
Georgia. He participated in one of the most bitterly fought and glorious 
campaigns of the war, that hundred days of almost continuous righting 
leading up to the siege and fall of Atlanta. He was present at the battle 
of Spring Place and Buzzard's Eoost in Georgia and in the many other 
engagements preceding the taking of Atlanta. But through all his 
exposure to risk and hardship he was never wounded and never taken 
prisoner. Mr. Stucker was mustered out of service at Macon, Georgia, 
January 21, 1866, and received his final discharge at the same date. 

After the war he returned home and put on the civilian garb and was 
soon busied with those duties of private life which engaged him for 
nearly half a century. On January 5, 18.65, before he had finished his war 
record, Mr. Stucker married Miss Nancy Jane Schrougham. To these 
worthy parents were born five children, two sons and three daughters, all 
of whom are still living. Caroline, the oldest, is the wife of M. G. Barn- 
hart, who is in the real estate business at Flanagan, Illinois. Mr. Barn- 
hart is well educated and was formerly principal of schools. They have 
two children, both of whom are married. Mr. and Mrs. Barnhart are 
members of the Christian Church. Will S. Stucker, the oldest son, is a 

227 



942 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

resident of Fisher and a teamster. He married Miss Nora Hanna, and 
they have four children. He is a member of the Christian Church. 
Nettie, the third child, married J. E. Alder, who is a lumber dealer at 
Plainfield, Illinois. They have two children, and the family are members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Eva is the wife of II. I. Dowse, an 
agriculturist living near Nevada, Missouri. They have four children. 
Eugene B., the youngest of the family, is a resident of Fisher, Illinois, 
and married Miss Kate Wiggins. They belong to the Christian Church. 

Mrs. Stacker was born in Indiana September 6, 1846, a daughter of 
William and Mary E. (Pierce) Schrougham. She was educated in her 
native state. Mr. and Mrs. Stucker have traveled the journey of life 
together, sharing in its pleasures and sorrows, its hardships and successes, 
for fifty-two years, more than half a century. Their golden wedding anni- 
versary was celebrated in January, 1915, in the presence of their children 
and their many friends in Champaign County. Mrs. Stucker has nobly 
stood by the side of her husband all these years, and besides the diligence 
with which she has attended to the duties of her household has been 
invaluable to him in the way of counsel and advice. Both are active 
members of the Christian Church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stucker have some possessions in their home which are 
of more than ordinary interest. One is a copy of the New York Herald 
published under date of April 15, 1865, and containing the news of the 
assassination of President Lincoln. Another is a copy of the Daily 
Citizen, published at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 2, 1863, just two days 
before the fall of that great stronghold of the Confederacy. Throughout 
the South during the Civil War as it progressed newspapers found it 
more and more difficult to get a supply of print paper, and this particular 
copy was printed on the reverse side of some figured wall paper. Mr. 
Stucker has the Democratic ticket of 1864, containing the name of General 
George B. McClellan for President. Probably one of the oldest Bibles 
in Champaign County is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Stucker. It was pub- 
lished in 1802, and is therefore a hundred and fifteen years old. Mr. 
Stucker has a $5 bill of the noted "wildcat" money issued by the Bank 
of Illinois in 1859. He also has a Confederate $10 bill. 

Mr. Stucker is an honored member of Lodge No. 704 of the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows at Fisher, has passed all the chairs in the 
local lodge and has been a delegate to the grand lodge. He and his 
wife are members of the Daughters of Eebekah. Mr. Stucker is also a 
very active member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has been 
commander of Van Wert Post No. 300 at Fisher, was adjutant of the 
post, and has attended the Grand Encampments at St. Louis, Columbus, 
Ohio, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Louisville, Kentucky. The Van Wert 
Post now numbers about fifteen survivors of the great war. 

Mr. and Mrs. Stucker have done their work in life well, have enjoyed 
the happiness of family and friends, and none in that section deserves 
more the love and esteem paid them. 

FEANK MILLER was until his recent death one of the enterprising 
farm managers of Champaign County and had under his adequate direc- 
tion and control one of the largest individual farms iif the entire county. 
It is the extensive Matis farm of 510 acres, situated in section 10 of Cham- 
paign Township. The home is on Rural Route No. 1 out of Champaign. 
During the six years he had charge of this estate he demonstrated his 
capacity for handling a big farming proposition on progressive lines and 
in a manner profitable to himself and to the owners of the land. Besides 
general farming he made something of a specialty of breeding and raising 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 943 

thoroughbred Hereford cattle, English shire horses, and Duroc Jersey 
hogs. The finest animals of these types in eastern Illinois were found 
on his place. 

Mr. Miller was a native of Champaign County, where he was born 
February 23, 1870, a son of Daniel and Mary (Potts) Miller. Both 
his father and mother were born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his 
father came to Champaign County in the early '60s. He was one of the 
sturdy and progressive farmers of this county, and lived here until his 
death in 1897. The mother passed away November 30, 1915. They 
had eight children: Susan, William H. and Minnie, all deceased; Charles, 
of Mendota, Illinois; George, deceased; Frank; Catherine, wife of M. M. 
Wheatley, of Seymour; and Alice, wife of John Bevins, of Champaign. 

Mr. Frank Miller had the life of the average farmer boy, attended the 
district schools, and he early assumed the responsibilities of caring for 
his widowed mother and his two younger sisters on the farm. On leaving 
the old home place here moved to Champaign and for about fifteen years 
was engaged in teaming and the livery business. He retired from that 
line in 1911 to take the management of the present place above mentioned. 

Mr. Miller was married December 10, 1905, to Miss Mary E. Simeral, 
a native of Cumberland County, Illinois. Two children were born to their 
union: Daniel Eoss, born July 5, 1907; and William Henry, born March 
12, 1910. Mr. Miller besides the heavy responsibilities he carried in the 
management of his farm was serving as highway commissioner at the time 
of his death. He was a Republican and was affiliated with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. 

Mr. Miller passed away September 13, 1917, and his remains were 
interred in Mount Hope Cemetery; he was buried under the auspices of 
the I. 0. 0. F., his lodge being in Champaign. Mr. Miller was a gentle- 
man of the highest ideals, his friends were many and his funeral was one 
of the largest held in Champaign Township. Mrs. Miller is a lady who 
has the love and respect of all who know her. She and her two little sons, 
Daniel Ross and William Henry, are left to mourn the loss of husband 
and father. 

i 

GEOVEE C. KIEBY learned his business as a farmer and stockman when 
a boy in Champaign County, and having added to knowledge and experience 
the other qualities of industry and prudence, he has been getting steadily 
ahead in the world since he began his independent career. 

Mr. Kirby was born in Sidney Township of this county January 22, 
1885, a son of George Marion and Froella Catherine (Stillwell) Kirby. 
His father is still living in Sidney Township, where the mother died 
May 5, 1901. They were the parents of nine children: Cora of Sidney; 
Viola, wife of Frank Cannon of Homer Township; Albert of St. Joseph 
Township ; Grover C. ; Arthur of Decatur, Illinois ; Frank of Sidney Town- 
ship ; Clarence, at the home place ; Addison of St. Joseph ; and the youngest, 
a son, died in infancy. . 

Grover C. Kirby grew up at his father's home and received his educa- 
tional advantages in the district schools. At the age of twenty he left 
home and began farming for himself as a renter. The first two years 
he spent on a place of 160 acres in St. Joseph Township, and then removed 
to Sidney Township, where he has the active management of 400 acres in 
section 6. He is rapidly gaining an independent position in the world 
as a general farmer and stock raiser. Mr. Kirby is a Democrat in politics. 
His home is on Route No. 57 out of Sidney. 

He married Miss Ella Marie Light, who was born in Philo Township. 
They are the parents of two children, Hazel, born September 10, 1908, and 
Helen Irene, born April 8, 1912. 



944 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

GEORGE HOI/TAPP is one of the conspicuous factors in the modern agri- 
cultural activities of Champaign County. The name is one that has been 
identified with Champaign County history for many years, and he is one 
of the younger generation and with a brother is managing the resources 
of a fine farm in Harwood Township in section 33. The home is on Rural 
Route No. 3 out of Rantoul. 

Mr. Holtapp was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, a son of Joseph and 
Barbara (Hoffman) Holtapp. His parents were natives of Germany. 
There were seven sons in the family, George, Fred, Charles and John, 
residents of Iowa, and Frank, Lewis and George of Champaign County. 

Joseph Holtapp passed away in 1914. He had spent many years of 
usefulness and was a man of neighborly kindness and enjoyed a large circle 
of friends. He lived to see his sons well reared and all of them splendid 
citizens. The mother died in 1900 and her remains are interred in Maple- 
wood Cemetery at Rantoul. She was an active member of the Baptist 
Church, while her husband was a German Lutheran in faith. 

George Holtapp married, in 1915, Miss Elizabeth Moore. She was 
born in eastern Kentucky, a daughter of John and America (Johnson) 
Moore, her father a native of North Carolina and her mother of Ken- 
tucky. Mrs. Holtapp was educated in the Kentucky public schools and 
when a young lady she came to Vermilion County, Illinois, to visit her 
aunt, Flora Hogge. While here she became acquainted with George Hol- 
tapp, and the acquaintance ended in her changing her name from Moore 
to Holtapp. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Holtapp started life on 
his father's farm near' Dillsburg, the old homestead of his parents. They 
have shown many excellent and commendable qualities as farmers and 
home makers and as factors in local society. Mr. and Mrs. Holtapp have 
one child, a bright and attractive boy named George Mervin. 

Mr. Holtapp and his brother Frank are now running the old homestead 
of 160 acres. They are practical farmers and have made mother earth 
respond bountifully to their touch. Last year they raised 1,750 bushels 
of oats and 5,250 bushels of corn, their crop averaging fifty-three bushels 
of oats and seventy bushels of corn to the acre. 

In 1915 Mrs. Holtapp's widowed mother came from Kentucky with 
her daughter Evelyn, and they have since made their home with Mr. and 
Mrs. Holtapp. Mr. Holtapp is a stanch Republican in politics and believes 
that the principles of that party best express American ideals. 

DAVID A. SILVER is one of the men who claim Champaign County as 
their birthplace and the scene of their substantial activities. Mr. Silver 
has found in farming both a congenial and profitable occupation. The 
management of well tilled fields, the care and superintendence of good 
stock, the task of winning a living and at the same time increasing and 
improving the value of his farm, and the duties of good citizenship, have 
occupied him for many years. His home and farm are in Philo Town- 
ship in section 3, and his mail is delivered on Rural Route No. 11 out of 
Urbana. 

Mr. Silver was born in Philo Township, September 22, 1867, and is a 
son of Wallace and Mary D. (Karr) Silver. His father was born in War- 
ren- County, Ohio, and his mother in New Jersey. Wallace Silver arrived 
in Champaign County October 23, 1854. He had come overland from 
Ohio, bringing household goods, and cattle. Locating in Philo Township, 
he bought in 1855 eighty acres in section 3, and proceeded forthwith to 
its development and improvement and followed farming successfully there 
until the last twelve years of his life, which he spent retired in Urbana. 
He died June 10, 1914, and his widow is still living in Urbana. 




IN MEMORY OF ME. AND Mns. JOSEPH HOLTAPP. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 945 

The only child of his parents, David A. Silver grew up on the home 
farm, attended the local schools, and at the age of twenty rented a tract 
of land for his own purposes. In 1891 he bought eighty acres in section 10 
of Philo Township, and in 1902 increased his farm by the purchase of 
eighty acres more in section 3. This land he has devoted to general farming 
and stock raising. 

A Eepublican in politics, Mr. Silver served as township assessor five 
years and for nineteen years was a member of the school board. He is 
affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masons, and 
he and his family are Presbyterians. 

On March 7, 1893. he married Miss Mae Wells, a native of Champaign 
County. Their five children, one of whom is deceased and the others are 
at home, are named as follows: Wallace E., born November 26, 1895; 
Hazel M., born November 17, 1896; Mary V., born March 7, 1898; 
Frank W., born October 1, 1899; and Eobert M., born November 3, 1900, 
died September 15, 1910. 

Mrs. Silver is a daughter of Francis and Cordelia Jane (Evans) Wells. 
Both were born in Ohio and came to Champaign County about 1854, 
locating in Urbana Township, and from there moving to Philo Township. 
Her mother died May 27, 1908, and her father is now living with his chil- 
dren at Blackwell in Kay County, Oklahoma. Besides farming he took an 
active interest in local affairs in Philo Township and served as supervisor 
and assessor. During the Civil War he was a private and a member of 
Colonel Busey's Seventy-sixth Eegiment. Mrs. Silver is the oldest of her 
father's eleven children. Thomas W. lives at Urbana; Ada is the wife 
of George Flewelling of Jackson, Minnesota ; Elias Herbert resides at Lin- 
coln, Nebraska; Elmer, at Pomeroy, Iowa; Arthur, at Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia; and all the others at Blackwell, Oklahoma. Grace is the wife of 
Albert Lientz, Charlotte the wife of John Eoot, Chester M. and Irvin are 
the two youngest sons, and Nellie, the youngest of the family, is the wife 
of V. A. Gordon. 

JOSEPH BRAYSHAW, M. D. The success of the capable and competent 
surgeon has attended the career of Dr. Joseph Brayshaw, who for the 
past fifteen years has been successfully engaged in practice at Homer. 

Doctor Brayshaw was born in Perry County, Illinois, January 15, 1868, 
son of Helvetius Pyle and Elizabeth (Brayshaw) Brayshaw. His father, 
who was of mingled English and Greek descent, was born in Perry County, 
Illinois, while the mother was a native of England. The father was a 
farmer and spent the last twenty years of his life in Missouri, where he 
died January 1, 1895. Besides farming he was a skilled landscape gar- 
dener and a nurseryman. The widowed mother is still living at the old 
home in Missouri. Her six children are : James Edward, in Missouri ; 
Sarah Ellen, wife of J. S. Langston, in Missouri ; Anna D., widow of H. F. 
Welsh, in Missouri ; Doctor Brayshaw ; Lucinda, at home ; and Charles 
William, who was killed by a stroke of lightning in 1916. 

Doctor Brayshaw spent the latter part of his youth in Missouri and 
besides the common schools attended the Baptist College at Pierce City, 
Missouri. He graduated in 1888, at the age of twenty, and following 
this for three years he worked on the home farm. His ambition from an 
early age was to become a physician, and largely through his own earnings 
he paid his way through the University of Michigan, where he spent four 
years and where he took his medical degree. In 1896 Doctor Brayshaw 
located at Berlin, Illinois, and was in practice there until he removed to 
Homer in January, 1902. He has joined the Medical Officers Eeserve 
Corps and has received his commission as first lieutenant. 



946 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

While a resident of Berlin, Doctor Brayshaw served as mayor. He is 
a Republican in politics and is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, 
the Masonic Order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He 
married Mary R. King on June 1, 1898. Mrs. Brayshaw is a native of 
Kansas. They have one child, Helen Matilda. 

TRUMAN 0. CORD has made a success of farm management and has in 
active operation one of the fine places in Sidney Township, located on 
Rural Route No. 58. 

While Mr. Cord has spent most of his life in Champaign County, he 
was born in Indiana, October 26, 1872, a son of Simon and Milcah (Caw- 
ihorn) Cord. Both parents were natives of Indiana, and both are now 
deceased, the mother having passed away in 1884 and the father on July 13, 
1890. They came to Champaign County about 1876 and the father was 
also a farmer. There were seven children: Charles E., in Iowa; Roma, 
wife of John C. Meyers of Mayview; Frank of Urbana; Truman 0.; Ben- 
jamin, deceased; Rose, wife of U. S. Thompson of Homer; and Allen, in 
Chicago. For his second wife Simon Cord married Nancy Bettis, and 
there is one child of this union, Pearl, wife of Ernest Lyons of Madison, 
Illinois. 

Truman 0. Cord received a district school education and at the age 
of eighteen entered upon an active career as a farmer, renting eighty acres. 
He worked that for a number of years, then spent two years in Michigan, 
and since returning to Champaign County has had the active management 
of 280 acres in section 8 of Sidney Township. He is devoting this to 
general farming and stock raising. 

On March 17, 1899, Mr. Cord married Media Lockwood. They have 
five young children : Joy, Thelma, Lenora, Edith and Robert T. Mr. 
Cord is a Republican in politics and is affiliated with the Masonic order and 
with the Court of Honor. 

HENRY K. KELLER, superintendent of the Champaign County Home 
and Farm, was for many years an active business man of Urbana, and has 
spent the greater part of his life in this county. 

Mr. Keller was born in the historic and picturesque region around 
Cumberland, Maryland, January 20, 1858. His parents were William V. 
and Susan (Cook) Keller. His father, a native of Bedford County, 
Pennsylvania, was a stone mason by trade. In October, 1864, the family 
came to Champaign County, locating at Urbana, where his father followed 
his trade until his death in 1876. The mother also died at Urbana. 
They had a large family of children: John W., James Milton, Scott, Mary 
and Annie all deceased ; Joseph, a resident of Urbana ; Laura, deceased ; 
Henry K. ; Martha, wife of John Buckley of Forest, Illinois ; Emma, 
deceased; Susan, wife of George Stamp of Urbana; and two that died in 
infancy. 

Henry K. Keller was seventeen years of age when his father died. 
Many of the responsibilities of keeping up the home and family then 
devolved upon him. He had received only such advantages as were fur- 
nished by the common schools. Soon after his father's death he went out 
to Moberly, Missouri, and was engaged in railroad work for about seven 
years. On returning to Champaign County he located in Urbana, entered 
the local brick works and was advanced to superintendent of the Sheldon 
Brick Company. He filled that position a number of years and in 1910 
the Board of Supervisors appointed him superintendent of the County 
Home, an office he has held ever since. He is the right man for this place, 
and is giving a very careful and capable supervision of this important 
county institution. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 947 

Mr. Keller married for his first wife Louise Weil, who was born at 
St. Louis, Missouri, and died in September, 1911. They had two children: 
William, of Champaign; and Lottie, wife of Laurel Truman, of St. Louis, 
Missouri. Mr. Keller married for his second wife Selma Benidott, who 
was born in Sweden. They have a daughter, Jet Virginia, born March 28, 
1914. In matters of politics Mr. Keller is independent. 

L. W. BAIED was long a fixture in the business affairs of the town of 
Ogden as a lumber merchant, and is now living retired in that quiet village, 
surrounded with all the comforts and conveniences that a life of industry 
and honor have brought him. 

Mr. Baird was born at Washington in Tazewell County, Illinois, son 
of Thomas N. and Mary (White) Baird. Both parents were born in Ohio. 
L. W. Baird was the third among twelve children, all of whom were edu- 
cated in the Franklin District School. Two of his brothers fought as 
soldiers in the Union army, Thomas R. and George W. Baird. 

In 1868 L. W. Baird married Lucinda Gland, a native of Ohio and a 
daughter of William and Nancy Gland. After their marriage Mr. and 
Mrs. Baird located near Bloomington, Illinois, where, he engaged in farming 
for some years. They were getting established with a good home and were 
rearing their children when death came upon the scene and took away 
Mrs. Baird on April 1, 1879. Four children were born to their union: 
Olive N., Charles Lossen, Minnie and Fred. These children were educated 
chiefly in the high school at Ogden. Olive N. is now Mrs. Wampler and 
has three children : Flossie, Otho and Minion. Charles Lessen is a prac- 
tical farmer in northwestern Missouri and by his marriage to Laura Young 
has three children, Lee, Oscar and Essie. Minnie died in Kansas City, 
Missouri, the wife of Benjamin Ladieu, leaving two daughters, Laura and 
Lillian. Fred Baird lives at Woodward, Oklahoma, and by his marriage 
to Miss Kirk has three children, Addison L., Cecil and Nellie. 

On December 15, 1880, Mr. Baird married for his present wife Mrs. 
Harriet Bowman, widow of Captain Isaac L. Bowman. Captain Bowman 
and wife were married November 9, 1865. He had served gallantly as 
captain of Company G of the One Hundred and Sixth Illinois Infantry. 
Captain Bowman's father was a county and circuit judge of Logan County, 
Illinois. Captain Bowman passed away in January, 1872, leaving his 
widow with one son, Ralph Waldo. Ralph Waldo graduated from North- 
western University Law School at Chicago in the same class with Judge 
Kenesaw Landis, and is now a successful practicing lawyer in New York 
City. For ten years he was librarian of the Chicago Bar Association. He 
is also a legal author, having compiled the work known as Bowman's Illinois 
Cases and Citations, which has found a place on the shelves of most law 
libraries not only in Illinois but elsewhere. 

Mrs. Baird was born at Galena, Illinois, a town famous not only for 
being the center of the great lead industry but also as , the early home of 
General Grant. Her maiden name was Wilson and she is a daughter of 
Hiram and Caroline (Reed) Wilson, her father a native of Pickaway 
County, Ohio, and her mother of Buffalo, New York. Mrs. Baird was one 
of a family of eleven children. These children grew up at Galena and the 
Wilsons were close neighbors to General Grant's family and the Grant and 
Wilson children played together and attended the same school. Mrs. Baird 
had a brother, Albert Wilson, who served in the Civil War. She also has 
two nephews who are successful physicians, Dr. Ray Teaman of Munising, 
Michigan, and Dr. Clyde Teaman, who is a partner of the noted Doctor 
Barnes of Decatur, Illinois. 

Mr. and Mrs. Baird were married in Peoria, Illinois, and have con- 



948 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

tinuously been residents of Ogden for over thirty-seven years. During all 
that time Mr. Baird carried on a successful business until February, 1909, 
when he retired. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church at Ogden. In politics he supports the principles of the 
Republican party and has always cast his vote for an organization which 
he feels has been the source of the best laws and policies of this nation. 
Both he and his wife have given the strength of their advocacy to the 
breaking of the yoke long maintained by the liquor traffic in this country. 
Fraternally Mr. Baird is affiliated with Masonry, being a Knight Templar 
of the Urbana Commandery, and also with the Knights of Pythias and the 
Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. Baird is a member of the Eastern 
Star and the Pythian Sisters. 

In public affairs Mr. Baird served as tax collector thirteen years and 
also filled the offices of assessor and school director. His own work has 
been a factor in the development of Champaign County, and his early 
memories go back to a time when this country was little more than bare 
prairie and swamp. He has lived a life of industry, has reared his children 
for positions in which integrity of character and loyal citizenship count, 
and has identified himself with every progressive movement in the com- 
munity. Mr. and Mrs. Baird now enjoy a very pleasant home at Ogden, 
close by the interurban line, their dwelling house being set in the midst of 
a large lawn where a number of trees furnish friendly shade and well set 
off the architectural features of the building. 

JOHN J. REYNOLDS is one of the progressive agriculturists of Cham- 
paign County, with a well improved place in Sidney Township on Rural 
Route No. 57. 

Mr. Reynolds is a native of this county, born in Rantoul Township, 
March 9, 1881, a son of Isaac W. and Mary (Stephenson) Reynolds. The 
parents were both natives of Pennsylvania and his father spent his boyhood 
days in Ohio and identified himself with Champaign County in 1862. 
He broke some of the first prairie sod near Rantoul, and though beginning 
comparatively poor accumulated three fine farms and spent his last years 
in comfortable retirement at IJrbana, where he died January 1, 1917. His 
widow is now making her home with her son John. John J. Reynolds was 
the only child of his parents, but his mother by a previous marriage to 
Mr. McCowan had one daughter, Nora, now the wife of John Norton of 
Shell City, Missouri. 

At the age of nineteen John J. Reynolds left the high school, where 
he completed his education, and began work in a department store at 
Urbana. After that he was in the grocery business for about four years, 
and in 1907 he bought out the Kilpatrick Department Store and was at 
the head of that well known business in Urbana for four and a half years. 
He gave up his successful career as a merchant to resume the occupation 
which he had followed as a boy, farming, and has since lived on his farm 
in section 2 of Sidney Township. He also owns thirty-five acres in section 
11, eighty acres in section 32 and eighty acres in section 33, Urbana Town- 
ship, eighty acres in Wayne County, and has considerable town property 
in Urbana. 

On May 17, 1902, he married Fay Shepherd, who was born at Pesotum, 
in Champaign County, March 20, 1882. They have three young children, 
Helen M., Keith Isaac and Mary, and these children are receiving good 
school advantages and the best of home training. 

Mr. Reynolds is a Republican in politics. He has served as secretary 
of the township high school, has been constable and has filled various 
minor offices. He is a Mason, a Mystic Shriner and present worthy patron 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 949 

of the chapter of the Eastern Star at Sidney. He is also a member of 
the Knights of Pythias fraternity at Sidney. He and his family are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

GEORGE J. HUKST. An experienced and successful general farmer and 
a highly respected citizen of Champaign County is George J. Hurst, who 
farms 240 acres situated in section 5, Ayers Township, this being the old 
homestead farm on which his parents first settled when coming to the 
county and taking up farming. George J. Hurst was born in Germany, 
September 21, 1879, and is a son of John George and Mary (Franks) 
Hurst. 

The parents of Mr. Hurst were born in Germany. The father brought 
his family to the United States and came to Illinois in 1883, locating at 
Leverett in Champaign County and residing there until 1891, when he 
bought 160 acres of land in section 5, Ayers Township, and resided on the 
same until 1912, when he purchased forty acres in Champaign Township, 
which is his present home. A man of industry and good judgment, he 
has been successful in his undertakings and has long been numbered with 
the men of comfortable fortune in this neighborhood. To John George 
and Mary Hurst the following children were born: Belle, who is the wife 
of Walter Rice, of Murdock, Illinois ; George J. ; Carrie, who is the wife 
of Louis Wienke, of Homer, Illinois; Louise, who is the wife of Jesse 
Rice, of Murdock, Illinois; Christina, who is the wife of John Grien of 
Philo, Illinois; Mary, who is the wife of Clem E. Smith, of Champaign; 
Minnie, who resides at home; Annie, who is the wife of Vernon Rowland, 
of Champaign; William, who is deceased; and Carl, who lives with his 
parents in Champaign Township. 

George J. Hurst obtained a good district school education and remained 
with his father until he was twenty-two years old and then rented a farm 
of 160 acres for two years. Before deciding to settle down permanently 
in Champaign County, Mr. Hurst determined to see other sections of the 
country and that led to his going to Oklahoma, where he remained as a 
farmer for one year and then returned to his native state and county. He 
settled then on a farm of 220 acres near Sidney, which he operated for 
two years and then removed to a farm of 240 acres which lay in Douglas 
County, and remained there one year and then came back to his father's 
old homestead. Here he continues general farming and raises some good 
stock. 

Mr. Hurst was married December 27, 1905, to Miss Mattie Duggan, 
who was born in Kansas, and they have had six children, namely: Nellie 
Marie, William George, Martha M., Mabel B., Walter Ralph and Minnie 
May, all of whom survive except Martha M. and Mabel B. Mr. Hurst 
believes in education and proposes to give his children every advantage that 
is in his power, but he is a practical man and it is very probable that his 
sons will learn under his instruction how to become judicious farmers such 
as he is. Mr. Hurst and family belong to the Christian Church. In 
every way he is a good citizen and lends a hand when any movement' is 
on foot to promote the general welfare, but he is not a politician and for 
many years has voted independently. 

FRANK B. MEANS. As one of the leading business men of Fisher 
Frank B. Means is supplying a service which contributes to the standing 
and importance of that town among the communities of Champaign County 
and the skill and energy which he employs in the management of the only 
drug store and pharmacy in the town would be creditable to a city of 
much larger size. 



950 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. Means belongs to the pioneer element of central Illinois, and par- 
ticularly McLean and Champaign counties. It is a fact that should not 
be forgotten in the history of Champaign County that his father, the late 
David D. Means, in 1850 broke up the first acre of land in Newcomb Town- 
ship. He had one of the old-fashioned plows and a team of oxen drew 
the heavy implement through the virgin prairie. That pioneer plowing 
was done near the present Phillips estate. 

Frank B. Means was born in McLean County, May 18, 1875, and was 
the eleventh in a family of twelve children, eleven sons and one daughter, 
born to David D. and Rebecca (Cline) Means. Nine of these children are 
still living and all are in Illinois except David L., a resident of Post Falls, 
Idaho, and John E. of Arkansas. 

David D. Me'ans was a native of the Blue Grass State of Kentucky, 
where he was born May 4, 1827. His life was a long and useful one and 
was protracted to eighty-eight years. He passed away August 22, 1914. 
The Means family is noted for its longevity. There are few families in 
Illinois that can present a like record of age in individual members. While 
David D. Means died at the age of eighty-eight, his brother James died at 
eighty-nine, his brother Owen A. at eighty-six, and of his sisters Mrs. 
Van Scoyck died at eighty-five, Mrs. Snowdon Ball at eighty-two, Mrs. 
Jennie Stansberry at eighty-six and Mrs. Keturah McMacken at ninety. 
Thus seven children attained an aggregate of 606 years. 

When David D. Means was three years of age his parents removed to 
McLean County, and the home of his mature years was within one mile 
of the original settlement. David D. Means himself was a pioneer in 
this great corn belt region of Illinois. He witnessed the remarkable march 
of progress and development which transformed Illinois within his per- 
sonal recollection. When the Means family settled in McLean County 
It was two years before the Black Hawk War, and Jackson was still Presi- 
dent of the United States. In the early days David Means assisted in 
driving stock to market at Chicago, when that city was clustered closely 
along the banks of the Chicago River. He also aided in the erection of 
the first log cabin at Ellsworth, Illinois. He was one of the old pioneers 
of central Illinois who were frequently called "The Snowbirds." As a 
farmer he came into the possession of and developed 240 acres near Say- 
hrook, Illinois. In his later years he often referred to a time when the 
present wealthy city of Bloomington, with its population of 28,000, was 
a village and hamlet. He was on intimate terms with the prominent old 
family of Bloomington, the Funks. While a Democrat, David Means 
voted for Lincoln, and in the later years of his life he supported the Pro- 
hibition candidate, St. John. He and his wife were active Methodists and 
aided in building the various churches in their locality. 

Mrs. David Means was born in Ohio, April 3, 1831, and is still living. 
At the age of eighty-six her intellect is as clear as a bell, her eye clear and 
sparkling, and all these years have not whitened her black hair. Mr. 
Means drove to Springfield to get his bride and took her home in a wagon. 
She has always been active in church and for many years was a worker in 
the W. C. T. U. Her home is still at Saybrook, and she and her children 
have their happy family reunions each year. It is an impressive as well 
as happy occasion where are gathered together four generations, the mother 
with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The presence 
of many descendants has been her chief source of solace and comfort in her 
declining years. 

Frank B. Means grew up on the old homestead farm in McLean County, 
and besides the country school he attended the Saybrook High School. 
Later he took the full course in the Parsons Horological School at Peoria, 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 951 

graduating with the class of 1896-97 as an expert watchmaker. To the 
age of twenty-two Mr. Means had lived on the home farm. In 1897 he 
took up the work of his profession in the watch and jewelry trades at 
Saybrook. He also was employed as a clerk in a local drug store, and 
there he gained his first practical knowledge as a pharmacist and subse- 
quently became a licensed or registered pharmacist. In 1899 he went to 
Monticello, Illinois, was employed as a salesman for several years, in 1903 
removed to Lovington, Illinois, which was his home and place of business 
for six years, and in 1909 he took charge of the store at Windsor, Illinois. 
In 1911 he removed to Sheldon, Illinois, where he spent one year in a 
drug establishment, and in 1912 he located in Fisher. 

He began in this town as a salesman and at the present time he and 
his wife own one of the most complete stocks of pure drugs and other goods 
found in similar stores in towns of 3,000 population. In fact his store is 
classed as No. 1 among the 7,000 drug stores of Illinois. His goods are 
carefully purchased from some of the best wholesale houses in the United 
States. Since 1912 he and his wife have filled 11,096 prescriptions. 
Their store is the local distributing agency for the celebrated Eexall reme- 
dies, and they also carry a complete stock of toilet articles and have the 
agency of the Eastman Kodak, the National cigar stand and the veterinary 
remedies of -Doctor Roberts. 

On May 3, 1898, Mr. Means found his capable helpmate in his marriage 
to Miss Dora C. Short, daughter of Robert and Lucinda (Russell) Short. 
Mrs. Means was one of seven children, three sons and four daughters, 
all of whom are living in Illinois except their brother Alva, a farmer at 
Lake City, Iowa. 'Robert Short was a native of Washington County, 
Indiana, and always followed agriculture as his chief vocation. His death 
occurred in February, 1914, at the age of sixty-nine, and he is buried at 
Bellflower, Illinois. He removed to McLean County, Illinois, in 1886, 
when Mrs. Means was eight years of age. Politically he was a Democrat. 
Mrs. Short was born in Washington County, Indiana, and is still living at 
the age of seventy-three. She is an active member of the Christian Church, 
to which her husband also gave his affiliation. 

Mrs. Means was well educated, having attended the common schools 
and Leroy High School. She was in the Leroy High School when Frank 
Blair was its principal. Frank Blair is now superintendent of public 
instruction of the State of Illinois. Mrs. Means' favorite study was mathe- 
matics, and her mathematical mind and her energy have made her an 
important factor in the success of the business now carried on by herself 
and husband. Mr. and Mrs. Means are active members of the Christian 
Church at Fisher. She belongs to the Domestic Science Club. Politically 
Mr. Means is a Democrat and cast his first vote for Bryan. He has also 
gone the route of York Rite Masonry, being a member of Cheney's Grove 
Lodge No. 468, A. F. & A. M., at Saybrook, Sullivan Chapter No. 68, 
R. A. M., at Sullivan, Maleta Commandery No. 37, K. T., at Tuscola, and 
Mohammed Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Peoria. He is also a member 
of the Oriental Shrine Band at Peoria and was with the Shriners at the 
Imperial Council at Buffalo, New York, in 1916. 

FRANK MORTON CONKET has for more than a quarter of a century 
been identified with the town of Homer in his profession as a dentist. He 
is one of the most progressive men in his calling in the county, and began 
his work with a splendid equipment and has always kept up with every 
advance and improvement in the profession. 

Doctor Conkey was born at Homer, Illinois, May 3, 1868. He is a 
son of William Alexander and Sarah Virginia (Sadler) Conkey, his 



952 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

father a native of Pelham, Massachusetts, and his mother of Wheeling, 
West Virginia. The Sadler family were early settlers in Champaign 
County and Sarah Virginia came with her family when about twelve 
years of age, and rode into the county on horseback. William A. Conkey 
was graduated from the Louisville Medical College at Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, in 1856. In 1840 his family had located at Cayuga, Indiana, 
when he was ten years of age, and he lived in that vicinity until about 
twenty-two or twenty-five, when he removed to the district east of Cham- 
paign County on Salt Fork Eiver, where a town was named for him 
Conkeytown. From there he removed to the old town of Homer, lived 
there about ten years and when the Wabash Railroad was built, causing a 
change in the location and the founding of the new town of Homer, he 
bought farming land a mile and a quarter west of the village and spent 
the rest of his days in the quiet vocation of agriculture. His death 
occurred December 2, 1908, and his wife passed away March 4, 1906. 
They were the parents of ten children : Aubert J., a retired farmer at 
Homer; the second, third and fourth children died in infancy; Lucy, wife 
of M. J. Spencer, now living retired at Homer; Bruce T., who died Janu- 
ary 5, 1915; Carl A., a hardware merchant at Homer; Emma, wife of 
E. P. Babb, of Champaign; Frank M., of Homer; and Fred B., of Howe, 
Indiana. 

Frank M. Conkey grew up in his father's home at Homer, graduated 
from the high school there and spent one year in the University of Illinois. 
For two years he worked and studied in a dentist's office at Crawfordsville, 
Indiana, and then spent two years in a dental school, one year at 
Indianapolis and in March, 1891, graduated from a dental college at 
Baltimore, Maryland. He at once returned to his old home town and has 
been steadily practicing here ever since. 

Doctor Conkey married Laura V. Shepherd, who was also born in 
Homer, daughter of Parker E. and Lucinda (Thompson) Shepherd. Her 
father was born in Ohio and her mother at Homer, and both are now 
deceased. Her father was a farmer. Mrs. Conkey was the oldest of four 
children, the other three being : Bertha J., wife of J. M. Cooley ; John A., 
who lives at New Orleans; and Ralph W., a resident of Yakima, Wash- 
ington. 

Dr. and Mrs. Conkey have one son, William Harold, who was born 
November 27, 1900. Doctor Conkey is a Republican in politics, a member 
of the Masonic Order and he and his wife belong to the Presbyterian 
Church. 

COLUMBUS CLINTON McELWEE is one of Champaign County's successful 
farmers and cattle feeders, and has come up from the bottom round of the 
ladder to a most successful position. The best type of success is that which 
depends upon personal energy and initiative in acquiring those things which 
a worthy ambition craves, and in this respect Mr. McElwee is one of the 
truly successful men of Champaign County. 

He was born at Wallace, Indiana, June 4, 1873, a son of David and 
Melissa Jane (Harlow) McElwee. His father was a native of Pennsylvania 
and his mother of Indiana. His father enlisted in the Sixty-third Indiana 
Volunteer Infantry, and served throughout the war, being wounded three 
times. He died in Indiana, October 8, 1882, while his wife passed away 
August 6, 1881. They had a family of five children: Charles and James, 
both deceased; Everett of Dear Station in St. Joseph Township, Cham- 
paign County; Columbus C. ; and Rachel, wife of Charles Rush of St. Joseph 
Township. 

Columbus C. McElwee was nine years old when the death of his father 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 953 

and mother left him an orphan. He had little chance to gain an educa- 
tion by regular attendance at school, and has made the most profit possible 
from circumstances and his opportunities of observation and contact with 
men and affairs. In 1884, the year that Cleveland was first nominated 
for the presidency and when Mr. McElwee was eleven years of age, he 
borrowed 35 cents to get from Indiana to S.t. Joseph, Illinois. He earned 
that money by cording wood. For four years he worked on a farm for 
board and clothes, and after that was paid steadily increasing wages as a 
farm hand. With growing experience and proficiency, he rented land and 
farmed it for two and a half years, and about that time he established a 
home of his own by his marriage. He took charge of his father-in-law's 
place and at the present time is engaged in farming 350 acres. He has 
acquired under his individual ownership 160 acres in Sidney Township and 
has been thoroughly progressive in all his methods. 

Mr. McElwee built the first silo in Sidney Township. He now has 
four silos on his farm, and these he considers invaluable adjuncts to the 
cattle feeder. 

Mr. McElwee married Ressie Olive Johnston. She is a daughter of 
James M. and Lucinda (Corry) Johnston, the former a native of Kentucky 
and the latter of Somers Township of Champaign County. Her father is 
still living, and for years has made a specialty of raising fine draft horses. 
Mrs. McElwee was eight years of age when her mother died. There were 
four children, Mrs. McElwee and her sister Daisy Ann being twins. The 
latter is the wife of James Rudisell of St. Joseph Township. The other 
two children, sisters of Mrs. McElwee, are Laura, wife of Jesse Purst of 
G-rover Hill, Ohio, and Nellie, wife of Charles H. Greenwood of Chicago. 
Mrs. McElwee's father married for his second wife Millie Stewart, and by 
that union there are three children: Owen of Indiana; Fannie, wife of 
Lloyd Patch of Chicago; and Vern I., who is now in the United States 
navy. 

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. McElwee were born seven children. 
The first, a son, died in infancy ; Guy C., still at home ; Maude Esther, at 
home ; Ermel James ; Norma F. ; Claude Martin ; and Laverne Roy. 

In 1901 Mr. McElwee organized the local telephone exchange in Sidney 
Township, getting a few neighbors to co-operate with him and installing a 
switchboard. Later he took over the interests of the other parties and 
incorporated the Sidney Home Telephone Company. Mr. McElwee is 
president of the Sidney Grain Company, is a Republican, a thirty-second 
degree Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight of Pythias and active in the Christian 
Church. He has served as school director, as supervisor, as deputy sheriff, 
and was on the building committee when the Knights of Pythias Hall 
and the town hall were erected in Sidney Township. 

SCOTT WILSON ELAINE is one of the fortunate younger men of Cham- 
paign County who elected to remain on the land where they grew up as 
children and have prospered exceedingly by the increasing fruitage and 
value of farm productive efforts. 

Mr. Elaine was born September- 15, 1874, on his father's farm in sec- 
tion 27 of Champaign Township. That is his present home and by due 
diligence and 'careful management he has surrounded himself with many 
of the best comforts and conveniences of modern rural life in this rich 
and prosperous section of eastern Illinois. 

His parents were Edward W. and Sarah (Wilson) Elaine, both natives 
of Pennsylvania. His parents came out to Champaign County in 1865, 
and at that date located in section 27 of Champaign Township. Here the 
father died September 15, 1914, and the mother passed away in 1899. 



954 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

They were the parents of five children : Shield, of Champaign ; Walter, a 
physician now practicing at Tuscola; Scott W.; Edith, wife of Harvey 
English, of Champaign; Edna, wife of Myrl Deck, of Peoria. 

With brief exceptions Scott Wilson Elaine has lived his entire lifetime 
so far on the place with which his first conscious recollections are associ- 
ated. The country schools in that vicinity gave him his education and by 
his early training he was well fitted when he arrived at his majority to 
compete for success with the other farmers of the community. He now 
owns 100 acres of the old homestead and has it well improved. His home 
is located on rural route No. 1 out of Champaign. Mr. Elaine is a 
Eepublican, is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is now serving 
as a director of the school board. 

On February 24, 1904, he married Miss Sadie Dunn, a native of 
Michigan. They are the parents of three children : Irma, Edward Wilson 
and Mary Edith. 

CHARLES W. WITT. Prominently known in Champaign County, and 
especially at Sidney, Mr. Witt is a native of that section and has made his 
years count for usefulness and service in different lines. He is now serving 
as postmaster of Sidney. 

He was born in that village February 25, 1871, a son of William and 
Mary (Wilson) Witt. His father was a native of Germany, but his 
mother was born in Champaign County. William Witt followed farming 
for a number of years, afterwards was a railroad man, and he died at Sidney, 
February 25, 1912, on Charles Witt's forty-first birthday. The mother 
died in 1882. They have three children: Luther C. of Sidney Township; 
Charles W. ; and George M., who resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Charles W. Witt attended the public schools at Sidney, and had his 
first experience in business as a restaurant man. For about a year and a 
half he conducted a restaurant at Tilton, Illinois, and then went to farming, 
which he followed twelve years. 

In an official capacity Mr. Witt served as supervisor of his township, 
and on December 25, 1915, was appointed postmaster of Sidney. That 
office has recently been created a third class office, and Mr. Witt was reap- 
pointed his own successor by President Wilson on January 29, 1917. He 
has given a capable administration and has made stanch friends in this 
community irrespective of party affiliations. 

On June 28, 1899, Mr. Witt married Hulda A. Mandeville. She was 
also born at Sidney and is a daughter of Samuel D. and Mary A. (Coffeen) 
Mandeville. Her father was born in Seneca County, New York, and her 
mother in Champaign County. Samuel Mandeville was at one time pro- 
prietor of the old Kelly Tavern, in partnership with Orton Woodward. 
The Kelly Tavern is historic because Abraham Lincoln, when a young 
Illinois lawyer, often stopped there. Mr. Mandeville is still living on his 
home farm, but his wife is deceased. In their family were seven children : 
Ira F. ; Ollie, deceased ; Hulda, Mrs. Witt ; Ethel G., deceased ; Anna B., 
wife of William H. Lehman of Decatur, Illinois; Paris R., an engineer of 
the Missouri Pacific Railway, living at Atchison, Kansas ; Carrie, deceased. 
The last two are twins. Mr. and Mrs. Witt have one child, Ralph D., 
who was born Jvily 5, 1902, and is now in the public schools at Sidney. 
Politically Mr. Witt is a Democrat, is a member of the Knights of Pythias, 
and his church is the Christian, while Mrs. Witt is a Presbyterian. 

CARL ODEBRECHT. Some of the finest farms in Illinois are to be 
found in Philo Township of Champaign County. This also means that 
some of the ablest exponents of the art of agriculture are in the same 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 955 

locality. One of the men who have been especially successful in trans- 
mitting the resources of the soil into material benefit is Carl Odebrecht, 
whose operations as a farmer are carried on in section 28 of that township. 

His entire life has been spent in Champaign County. He was born in 
Eaymond Township, August 20, 1877, and is a son of Charles and Sophie 
(Raver) Odebrecht. His parents were both born in Germany. His 
father arrived in America December 1, 1873, and for several years lived 
near Winchester, Ohio. In 1877 he came to Champaign County. He 
was at that time poor in purse though with experience and a steadfast 
ambition. Locating in Raymond Township, he lived there as a renter one 
year and for six years rented land in Philo Township. The slow accumu- 
lations of his industry then bore fruit in the purchase of eighty acres in 
section 28 of Philo Township. His prosperity has been steadily on the 
increase. He bought 120 acres more in the same locality, acquired forty 
acres in Ohio and finally forty acres in section 28 of Philo Township. 
The home farm has been brought under cultivation and has been put in a 
measure in a magnificent state of improvement. The good wife and 
mother died here October 20, 1910. She was the mother of three children: 
Erne, wife of Herbert Krumm, of Philo Township ; Carl P. ; and Albert J., 
also of Philo Township. 

Carl F. Odebrecht attended the district schools and secured his educa- 
tion partly from books and partly from practical experience. He worked 
with his father until 1904, and then after his marriage began life inde- 
pendently by renting half of the homestead. Two years later be took 
charge of the entire home place of 200 acres and is now working it to 
profit and advantage. He is owner of 103 acres of the rich farm land of 
Putnam County, Ohio, and also has forty acres in section 28 of Philo 
Township. 

Mr. Odebrecht was married February 24, 1904, to Miss Edith N. 
Porterfield, a daughter of Lemuel C. and Mary (Toy) Porterfield. Five 
children have been born to their marriage, and these constitute a happy 
household of young people, though the two oldest are now deceased. A 
record of the children is: Walter E., born September 11, 1907, and died 
September 18, 1909; Lyman C. born December 11, 1910, and died March 7, 
1911; Helen K., born March 2, 1912; Melba Frances, born December 16, 
1913; and Mary Agnes, born January 23, 1917. 

Mr. Odebrecht is a Republican and he and his family are members of 
the Lutheran Church. His fellow citizens have called on him to act as 
road commissioner and also as drainage commissioner, and he has sup- 
ported the public schools both privately and through his work as a school 
director. 

JESSE R. GLASCOCK. Champaign County as a whole attests the truth 
of the observation that "Our civilization rests at bottom on the whole- 
someness, the attractiveness and the completeness, as well as the prosperity 
of life in the country." It is surely the men of the open country who com- 
pose the stay and strength of the nation in time of war and its guiding 
and controlling spirit in time of peace. 

This county has a number of men who measure up to the standards set 
in these words, and one of them is Mr. J. R. Glascock of St. Joseph Town- 
ship. Mr. Glascock was born in that township, a son of Mahlon and Mary 
(Strong) Glascock, his father a native of Virginia and his mother of 
Illinois. His father was a pioneer farmer in Champaign County and went 
through many trials and privations to establish a home here in the early 
days. Mahlon Glascock was three times married, and his wife, Mary 
Strong, had four children, two sons and two daughters, Jesse being the 
youngest son. 



956 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

With his brothers and sisters he received his education in the local 
schools, and on April 12, 1899, married Miss Myrta Curry. Mrs. Glas- 
cock was born in Edgar County, Illinois, a daughter of Joseph W. and 
Alice (Hickman) Curry. Her father was born in Indiana and her mother 
in Virginia, but they were married in Illinois, and Mrs. Glascock was one 
of their family of six children, three sons and three daughters. 

After his marriage Mr. Glascock settled on part of his father's estate, 
having been given 115 acres. Later he bought fifty-three acres more, of 
unimproved land, and all of this has since responded to his faithful and 
intelligent endeavors as an agriculturist. Good buildings have been erected 
and Mr. and Mrs. Glascock have one of the most complete and attractive 
country homes of the township. 

In the files of the St. Joseph village paper of eighteen years ago is found 
the following account of their marriage: "Mr. Jesse Glascock and Miss 
Myrta Curry surprised friends from the city by going to the parsonage 
after prayer meeting, where their wedding was solemnized by Rev. Eninger. 
Mr. and Mrs. Glascock are two highly respected young people of this com- 
munity and have a large circle of acquaintances and scores of friends who 
wish them unbounded happiness. They start out in life under favorable 
circumstances, as the groom is possessed of a good farm three miles south- 
east of here and has just completed a beautiful modern residence, already 
furnished, to receive his lovely bride. Miss Curry, the bride, is a daughter 
of Joseph Curry and wife. She was a popular teacher in Champaign 
County for a number of years and possesses the accomplishments that elicit 
the love and admiration of a host of friends, who unite in wishing her an 
exceedingly happy voyage." 

Mrs. Glascock was educated in the district schools and fitted herself 
for teaching, which she followed most successfully, her field of labor 
embracing the Bowers School, Districts No. 7 and No. 9, Hunt School, 
Pleasant Ridge and Science Point School. She was teaching at the latter 
place when she married. If the number of her students could all be gath- 
ered together and could relate the most impressive lessons they learned 
from her it would make a large assemblage and would be an occasion worth 
hearing and recording. One of Mrs. Glascock's former students was Elmer 
Eckblau, who gained fame for himself in the noted Alaskan expedition. 
He always said that he owed his early success to Miss Curry's careful 
training. 

Mr. Glascock has proved himself one of Champaign County's most 
progressive farmers. He has interested himself extensively in grain and 
stock, for ten years kept a number of Holstein cattle and managed a fine 
dairy, handling only registered stock and shipping cream to market. He 
now specializes chiefly in the Duroc Jersey hogs and has also raised many 
Berkshires. 

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Glascock was born one son, Harold B. 
Glascock. He has attended the district schools, the St. Joseph High School, 
took a course in Brown's Business College at Urbana and graduated there- 
from, and is a student for the year 1917-18 in the Urbana High School, 
preparatory to entering the University of Illinois. He is a good student 
and a popular young man. 

Mr. and Mrs. Glascock are attentive members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at St. Joseph and have contributed liberally of their means to its 
various causes. In politics Mr. Glascock was born a Republican and has 
always found that party the most reliable expression of his views on political 
and economic questions. 

Even to the casual observer the Glascock farm indicates the industry 
and intelligent care that has been expended upon its broad and rich acres. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 957 

The home is set in an attractive grove of fruit and shade trees, and one 
might travel far and never find a better managed farm in this part of 
Illinois. Eecently Mr. Glascock threshed from a field of oats eighty-six 
bushels to the acre. His home is lighted with acetylene light, he has 
Uncle Sam's mail service every day in the week, telephone, and he and his 
wife enjoy life with a fine Hupmobile car. Mr. Glascock generously awards 
his wife much praise for their success, since she has always been by his 
side as a Christian counselor and good home maker, and her former 
experience as a teacher has spread an atmosphere of culture over all their 
undertakings. Mr. Glascock finds many ties that bind him to his present 
home, since it was the place where he grew up as a boy, and the associa- 
tions of the Glascock family have centered there for two generations. 

Mr. and Mrs. Glascock have been factors in the improvement of the 
standards of country life, and in 1913 Mrs. Glascock organized the Country 
Improvement Club of her neighborhood. The object of this is to pro- 
mote culture, intellectual and social commingling and an interchange of 
ideas which will go far to enrich the lives of all participants. Beginning 
in the month of September, the association holds meetings every two weeks 
until spring. Once a month there is a special social feature, and at other 
times during the year papers are read and vital matters and current events 
are discussed. There are seventeen members in the organization, and it 
has already done much to promote mutual interest and good will in the 
rural district. 

CHARLIE N. COTTON has lived in Champaign County over fifty years, 
and is rated as one of the enterprising and progressive agriculturists of 
Sidney Township. His well improved farmstead is on Eural Eoute No. 61 
out of Homer. 

Mr. Cotton was born in Madison County, Indiana, April 6, 1860, and 
was brought to this county by his parents in 1866. He is a son of Robert 
and Margaret (Williams) Cotton, his father a native of Indiana and his 
mother of Ohio. When his father came to Champaign County he located 
on a farm near Catlin, and became widely known and respected as ( a busi- 
ness man and citizen. His death occurred March 13, 1907. The 'mother, 
who was born in 1838, is now living at Homer in her eightieth year. They 
were the parents of four children: Charlie N. ; Emma R., wife of L. C. 
Palmer of Homer; Josephus W., who died in childhood; and William E. of 
Homer. 

Charlie N. Cotton had a farm as his early environment, and he learned 
the lessons taught in the local district schools. He was a factor in the 
family and at home iintil twenty-eight, and then rented ninety-seven acres 
in section 12 of Sidney Township. From there he moved to Lost Grove, 
Illinois, bought a place of 1291/2 acres, and five years later sold this and 
acquired eighty acres south of Broadlands. He farmed there for nine years 
and on selling that bought the old homestead of ninety-seven acres, which 
he has since increased by the purchase of eighty acres. All of this land 
is now thoroughly cultivated and used as a general farming proposition. 

Mr. Cotton married December 27, 1888, Miss Alice Coddington. She 
was born in Sidney Township. They had three children: Robert F., an 
attorney at Newman, Illinois ; Carl, who died at birth ; and Frank Earl, 
still at home. Mr. Cotton is a Republican and a member of the Modern 
Woodmen of America. 

CHABLES D. BABB. Established in 1900, the private banking house of 
Raynor & Babb, at Homer, Illinois, has enjoyed a prosperous existence of 
seventeen years, and through the financial ability, personal integrity and 

2 28 



958 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

good management of its owners has grown to be a recognized institution 
among the concerns of Champaign County which are engaged in the 
handling of the money of corporations and individuals. One of the mem- 
bers of this firm, Charles D. Babb, is a man of broad experience in business 
and financial matters, an excellent judge of realty and loan values, and a 
citizen who has at times taken more than a passing interest in public 
affairs. He belongs to the well known Champaign County family of the 
name, a review of which will be found in the sketch of E. P. Babb r else- 
where in this work. 

Charles D. Babb was born in the northern part of Champaign County, 
January 2, 1867, and received his early education in the Homer schools. 
When fourteen years old he began to do his share of work on the home 
farm, and although he later entered the Illinois College at Jacksonville, 
circumstances made it necessary that he leave during his second year and 
he at that time returned to his home. When he was eighteen years of 
age he assumed the responsibility of caring for his mother's business in 
addition to his own, and his first business experience, aside from farming, 
was gained in the field of mortgage loans, which he carried on near Homer. 
Later he entered the Champaign National Bank and for five years was 
engaged in clerical capacities, thus gaining much information and 
knowledge regarding financial systems and methods of procedure. During 
his connection with that institution he was thrown into contact with 
Eugene N. Raynor, and with mutual respect for each other's abilities they 
formed a partnership and embarked in the real estate and loan business, in 
which they continued with marked success for three years. Mr. Raynor 
was a man of much experience and business training, and had formerly 
been manager of the great Broadland farm, an estate of 22,500 acres. In 
1900 Messrs. Babb and Raynor formed the banking house of Raynor & 
Babb, which has since continued to grow and prosper, being one of the 
institutions of this part of the county which has the full confidence of the 
public. Mr. Babb is a Republican in politics and has been prominent in 
the ranks of his party, having served as delegate to a number of state and 
county conventions and being prominent in other ways. He was formerly 
a member of the town council and of the school board, and under appoint- 
ment of the governor was for four years a member of the board of trustees 
of the State School for the Blind, and president of that board for an addi- 
tional four years. He is a Mason, and his religious affiliation is with the 
Presbyterian Church. 

Mr. Babb was married north of Homer, April 20, 1892, to Miss Alta 
M. Woody, who was born in Champaign County and attended the public 
schools of Homer, as well as the Women's College at Jacksonville. She 
is a daughter of Ancil C. and Rachel M. (Poage) Woody, natives, respec- 
tively, of Kentucky and Virginia, and both now deceased. For a number 
of years Mr. Woody was engaged in mercantile pursuits both at Homer 
and at Decatur, and was well and favorably known in commercial circles. 
Mr. and Mrs. Babb are the parents of one daughter, Margaret Elizabeth. 

ALVA GILMOBE. With all due credit to the great metropolitan dailies 
that keep people informed of the life of the world, the local paper now as 
always has its great field of influence and value and is an indispensable 
factor in the life of a community. One of the leading papers of Cham- 
paign County is the Fisher Reporter, which has been regularly published 
since 1890 and is now a weekly visitor to all the leading homes in the 
northern part of the county. Since 1902 its editor and proprietor has 
been Mr. Alva Gilmore, a practical journalist and business man, who has 
made his paper a medium of communicating his public spirit and enterprise 
to the public in general. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 959 

Mr. Gilmore is a native of Champaign County, where he was born Jan- 
uary 15, 1871. He is the second in a family of seven children, consisting 
of three sons and four daughters. Their parents were David B. and Maria 
(Edwards) Gilmore. Only two of the children are living. Mr. Gilmore's 
younger sister, Minnie, is living at Fisher with her mother. She was edu- 
cated in the common schools and is an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

David Gilmore was born in 1835 in that section of old Virginia now 
the State of West Virginia. He grew up in his native state, and on 
coming West lived for a short time near Columbus, Ohio, and in 1869 
located in McLean County, Illinois. He had a common school education, 
and in early days taught schools when education was furnished on the 
subscription plan. For the greater part of his years he was identified 
with agriculture. From McLean County he moved to Newcomb Township 
of Champaign County and bought 100 acres, which in time he increased 
to 180 acres and developed it as one of the model farms of the county. 
He also owned town property. His success in life was due to strenuous 
effort, since he began without capital, and in early years he paid interest 
at the rate of 12 per cent on borrowed money. In 1894 he retired from 
his farm to a home at Fisher, where he died in 1912. He was a great 
admirer of "the Little Giant," Stephen A. Douglas, and cast his first presi- 
dential vote for that Illinois statesman. Afterwards he went into the 
Republican party. He stood firm in his principles, was positive in his 
convictions and was always able to discern the difference between right and 
wrong. Popular as a citizen, he -served as township clerk for several years, 
as assessor, road commissioner, township school treasurer and school director, 
and his community properly esteemed him as one of its most useful citizens. 
He and his wife were active Methodists and he assisted in the erection of 
the beautiful church of that denomination at Fisher. He also served as 
an official of the Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church in Newcomb Town- 
ship and was teacher and superintendent of its Sunday school for a number 
of years. His forefathers back in Virginia had been strong Methodists, 
and he was interested in religion and the work of his church from early 
boyhood. His body now rests in the Willow Brook Cemetery at Fisher, 
and a monument stands sacred to his memory. His wife was born in 
McLean County, Illinois, near Leroy, about 1847, and is still living in 
Fisher. She had a common school education and, like her husband, has 
always been a member of the Methodist Church. She was a splendid 
mother, and her home, her children and her church have given her the best 
interests of her life. In ancestry her lineage goes back to Wales. She and 
her daughter Minnie now occupy the old home at Fisher. 

Alva Gilmore attended the common schools, but gained most of his 
education by self-application. He also attended the business college at 
Champaign when J. B. McKee was president. This school is now one of 
the chain of excellent business colleges conducted by the Brown Business 
College Company. 

By the time he was eighteen years of age Mr. Gilmore had acquired a 
practical experience as a farmer on the home place. At that age he began 
teaching and taught two terms at East Bend and Newcomb Township. For 
eighteen months he was in the employ of the Pacific Express Company at 
Champaign, and then joined his father in the general merchandise business 
at Fisher. They began merchandising there in 1895, and had built up 
a handsome trade. In 1902 their store was consumed, along with many 
other business structures, in the great fire of that year, and their total loss 
through this disaster was $7,000. 

In August, 1902, Mr. Gilmore bought the Fisher Reporter and has 



960 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

since been its sole proprietor and editor. It is a quarto paper, independent 
in politics, publishes all the news of interest through the northern part of 
Champaign County, and is an instrument for the effective welfare of that 
district. 

Mr. Gilmore himself is a Republican. His first presidential vote was 
cast for McKinley. He has served as a trustee of the village board and 
is now a police magistrate for Fisher. He and his wife are members of 
the Methodist Church. 

On November 30, 1906, Mr. Gilmore married Miss Anna M. Beckham. 
Mrs. Gilmore is a daughter of Nathan H. and Rebecca (Bishop) Beckham. 
Her parents reside at Leroy in McLean County. Her father was born 
near Bowling Green, Kentucky, was educated in the common schools there, 
and when a young man, about 1861, came to McLean County, Illinois. 
His work has been that of an agriculturist and he now enjoys the profits 
of a fine farm of 400 acres in McLean County and also owns town prop- 
erty. He has always stood high in farming circles in that rich agricul- 
tural district. Politically he is a Democrat, has for many years been a 
Mason, and he and his wife are active members of the Christian Church. 
He contributed to the building of the church home in which he and his 
wife now worship. He has held the office of school trustee and director. 
The Beckham lineage is traced back to English Quakers. Mrs. Gilmore's 
mother was born in McLean County, and her father was one of the pioneers 
of that section. 

Mrs. Gilmore received her early education in the common schools. She 
is an active member of Chapter No. 244 of the Eastern Star at Fisher. 
They have a home of comfort and hospitality at Fisher and are moving 
' spirits in the social life of the community. 

WILLIAM B. LYMAN is now carrying on a successful farming enter- 
prise on the estate where he was born and where he has spent practically 
all the days of his life. This is in section 20 of Champaign Township. 

He was born at that farm June 26, 1884, a son of John P. and Julia 
(Ryan) Lyman. His parents were both born in Vermilion County, 
Illinois, but for many years have lived in Champaign County. Of their 
five children William B. was the second and is the only one now living. 
The others in order of age were named Mary, John and Julia, twins, and 
Thomas D. 

William B. Lyman grew up in a rural environment, had the advantages 
of good home training in addition to the country schools and a course of 
one term in Brown's Business College. In 1908, at the age of twenty- 
four, he rented his father's farm of 120 acres, and has handled its opera- 
tions with a high degree of success ever since. Besides general farming 
he raises considerable stock and is also one of Champaign County's farmers 
who devotes considerable attention to poultry. 

On February 10, 1908, Mr. Lyman married Mary Jordan, a native of 
Champaign County and a daughter of Patrick and Ellen Jordan. Her 
father is now deceased and her mother lives in Champaign. Mr. and Mrs. 
Lyman are members of the Holy Cross Catholic Church at Champaign. 
He is affiliated with the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Knights of 
Columbus, and in politics is a Democrat. 

ROBERT S. RITCHIE. As in the war the burden of arms falls largely 
upon the youth of the nation, so to an increasing degree in America the 
heaviest responsibilities of business have likewise fallen upon those who 
are youns: and vigorous, with enthusiasm undimmed and with energies 
undiminished. Among this class of young and aggressive business men 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 961 

of Champaign County mention should be made of Eobert S. Ritchie, who 
for a number of years has been successfully identified with agricultural 
operations and with the grain business at Foosland in northwestern Cham- 
paign County. With the exception of his college career, practically all his 
life has been spent in Champaign County. 

Mr. Ritchie was born in Champaign County, February 18, 1886, a son 
of William and Emeline (Ball) Ritchie. He was one of four children, 
one of whom is now deceased. John J. is a resident of Bloomington, Illi- 
nois; the next in age is Robert S. ; and Corley S. is an agriculturist living 
at Foosland. 

William Ritchie was born near Dumfrieshire, Scotland, in 1847, and 
grew to young manhood in his native country and was quite well educated. 
In 1869 he came with his parents to America and they all located in Cham- 
paign County. William Ritchie followed agricultural pursuits until 1899, 
when he moved into Foosland and entered general merchandising. In 1907 
he retired with a financial competence. He and his brother Walter had 
acquired 400 acres of the rich soil of Champaign County, and that land is 
still owned by their descendants. William Ritchie was distinguished by 
his strong belief in and advocacy of the Prohibition cause. -He was a 
member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Foosland and he and his wife 
were formerly Presbyterians, the faith in which they had been reared and 
to which the Ritchie family had been devoted for generations in Scotland. 
Finally, however, they united with the Methodist Protestant Church and 
aided in the erection of the church edifice in their home town. William 
Ritchie died in January, 1916, and his wife in February, 1908, and both 
are now at rest in Mount Hope Cemetery. Mrs. William Ritchie was 
born in Illinois in June, 1861. She was a loving and affectionate mother 
and a sincere Christian. 

Robert S. Ritchie was educated in the schools of Foosland and took 
his higher education in Adrian College at Adrian, Michigan. As a boy 
he showed unusual talent in a musical direction, and that talent was trained 
along with a thorough literary course in Adrian. He did some successful 
orchestral work in Michigan for eighteen months, but gave up that as a 
career and returned home to assume the management of his father's farm. 
Mr. Ritchie was engaged in farming from 1907 to 1912, and in the latter 
year entered the grain business with Noble Brothers. Later he went into 
the business for himself and has developed a large and extensive trade. He 
is a man of cordial and genial demeanor and his integrity and ability have 
won the complete confidence of his customers. Besides the grain business at 
Foosland Mr. Ritchie conducts a large grain and stock farm two miles from 
the village. 

On December 24, 1910, he married Miss Lucile Boulware. They have 
a little son, Robert Merrill, who is now five years of age. Mrs. Ritchie 
was born in McLean County, Illinois, July 8, 1891, and was' educated 
largely in the common schools at Foosland. She is an active member of 
the Methodist Protestant Church. Her parents were Walker and Alice 
(Merwin) Boulware. Her father was born in Kentucky and his lineage 
goes back to France. Mr. Boulware conducted a general store in Stanford 
and Bloomington, Illinois, and in 1898, removing to Foosland, took up 
the grain trade. He was a man of good education, having had the advan- 
tages of not only the common schools but the normal course in the State 
Normal at Normal, Illinois. Before entering business he had taught in 
McLean County. Both he and his wife were active members of the Chris- 
tian Church. Mr. Boulware died in January, 1915, and Mrs. Boulware i& 
still living and makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Ritchie at Foosland. 

Mr. Ritchie has found his political choice with the Republican party. 



962 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

His first presidential vote was cast for William H. Taft. He served six 
years as township clerk of Brown Township and is now a director of the 
public schools of Foosland. His college fraternity at Adrian was the Alpha 
Tau Omega, and he belongs to Lodge No. 842 of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows at Foosland. Besides passing all the chairs of the local 
lodge, he was a delegate to the grand lodge in 1914. He is affiliated with 
Camp No. 3807, Modern Woodmen of America, and has taken his first 
degrees in the Knights of Pythias. 

FRED HOT is one of the younger factors in the agricultural enterprise 
of Champaign County. He took hold of farming as a practical proposition 
in early life, and the ten years or more he has applied to that business have 
been in a high degree profitable. He now looks after the management of 
one of the best places in Urbana Township, located in section 24. 

Mr. Hoy was born on the old farm in that township June 10, 1885, a 
son of Rufus B. and Martha (Arrington) Hoy. His father was born in 
Ohio and his mother in Indiana. They came to Champaign County in 
1880 and his father was actively identified with farming until 1903, when 
he removed to the city of Urbana, where he still resides. They were the 
parents of five children: Jesse; Bertha, wife of A. Duvall, of Rantoul; 
May, wife of Earl Swartz, of Matthews, Missouri; Fred; and Lucy, still 
at home with her parents. 

Mr. Fred Hoy attended the district schools as the source of his early 
education. He learned farming under the direction of his father and at 
the age of twenty took active charge of the home place. He now has 180 
acres in section 24 of Urbana Township and conducts it with high power 
efficiency and in a way to get the best results consistent with wise and con- 
servative methods of agricultural management. 

Mr. Hoy married, January 1, 1910, Opal Lockwood. She is a daughter 
of David and Sarah E. (Woodard) Lockwood, both natives of Indiana. 
The Lockwood family came to Champaign County in 1889, locating at 
Sidney. Her father, however, died in Indiana and her mother is now 
living in Urbana. Mrs. Hoy was the youngest of three children. Her 
sister Media is the wife of Truman 0. Cord, of Sidney Township. Her 
sister Bertha is the wife of Roy Rankins, of Monticello, Illinois. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hoy have two young children. Marjorie Helen was 
born November 19, 1912. The only son, Donald Frederick, born March 
28, 1913, lived only a few months and was taken away by death September 
12, 1913. Politically Mr. Hoy is a Republican. Mrs. Hoy is an active 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their home is on Rural 
Boute No. 5 out of Urbana. 

CHAELES CHESTER PLACE. For more than half a century the Place 
family has been identified with one locality in Champaign County, section 
36 of Sidney Township. This is the farm home of Charles Chester Place, 
who was born there and has followed up the pioneer enterprise of his father 
with signally successful efforts of his own. 

Mr. Place was born February 9, 1880, and is a son of Jefferson R. and 
Henrietta (Cash) Place. His father was a native of Ohio and his mother 
of Pennsylvania. Jefferson R. Place came to Champaign County in 1865, 
and at that time bought 120 acres in section 36 of Sidney Township. He 
did much to develop and improve the land, and at the time of his death 
in 1905 left it as property many times more valuable than when he bought 
it. His widow is still living at Sidney. They were the parents of three 
children : Edgar of Homer Township ; Edna, wife of George Trees of 
Ohio; and Charles C. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 963 

Charles C. Place has lived on the home farm all his life. After attend- 
ing the district schools he learned farming under the capable direction of 
his father and at his father's death became active manager of the home- 
stead. He is now farming 240 acres and owns considerable of the land in 
his own right. He has successfully combined the raising of the staple crops 
with live stock. Mr. Place is a Eepublican in politics and a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

He married Mies DeEtta Mumm, a native of Sidney. They are the 
parents of five children, all at home, named Oliver, Melvin, Carl, Opal, and 
Pearl. 

JOSEPH M. MTJLLIKIN has made a name for himself in the farming 
enterprise of Champaign County and has been a land owner and pro- 
gressive agriculturist for the past thirty years. His efforts in business 
and his attitude in civic matters have been in every way commendable, 
and there are few country places around Champaign which will better 
repay inspection than that of Mr. Mullikin, located on Route No. 1 out 
of the city of Champaign. 

Mr. Mullikin was born in Johnson County, Indiana, February 7, 1863, 
but has lived in Champaign County since early infancy. He is a son of 
George C. and Nancy (Jones) Mullikin, the former a native of Indiana 
and the latter of Kentucky. Joseph Mullikin is a brother of Mr. Charles 
J. Mullikin, now postmaster in the city of Champaign. His father was a 
prominent man and a splendid character and a more extended reference 
to his career will be found on other pages. 

Joseph M. Mullikin remained at home until he was twenty-four years 
of age. In the meantime he attended the local schools and fitted himself 
by practice and exertion for the work that he has followed as a business 
career. At the age of twenty-four he located on 160 acres near Bond- 
ville in this county, and that was the stage of his activities as a farmer 
for eighteen years. In the meantime he bought eighty acres elsewhere, 
and kept increasing his farm enterprise until he was cultivating 370 acres 
as a general farmer. In 1902 he bought 160 acres, and in 1911 sold the 
eighty acres above mentioned. In the same year he purchased another 
160 acres and at the present time his fine farm comprises 400 acres situ- 
ated in sections 20 and 29. In 1915 Mr. Mullikin suffered the misfortune 
of having his entire home destroyed by fire, but has since replaced it with 
a modern two-story, eight room house that realizes some of the best ideals 
and standards of Champaign County rural homes. 

On February 12, 1887, he married Miss Belle Lowman, who was born 
in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Allison and Sarah J. 
(Lytle) Lowman, both natives of Pennsylvania and both now deceased. 
The Lowman family came to Champaign County in 1867, locating south 
of Bondville. In 1868 occurred a destructive cyclone in this section of 
Illinois, and the first home of the Lowmans was blown down. After 
nightfall the daughter Belle was discovered in' the garden near the home 
fast asleep, having been blown there during the storm and having slept 
peacefully through it all. Mrs. Mullikin was one of nine children, the 
record of the family being briefly as follows : Inez, wife of Chalmer Stitt, 
of Champaign; Alice, deceased; Mrs. Mullikin; Elizabeth, wife of Charles 
Mullikin, postmaster of Champaign ; John L., who lives near Staley and 
is road commissioner of that district; Mary, wife of Charles Shotts, of 
Milmine, Illinois; Samuel L., in the grocery and grain business at Staley; 
William, deceased ; and Cora, wife of Frank Brown, of Champaign. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mullikin have two children, Maude Edith and George 
Allison. Maude Edith is the wife of George Armstrong and their home 



964 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

is one mile west of Bondville. Their three children are named Dorothy 
Marie, Verlie and Marian Esther. George Allison is a farmer associated 
with the enterprise of his father. By his marriage to Blanche Fowler 5 a 
native of Urbana, he has one child, Marcella May. 

Mr. Mullikin is a Democrat in politics. He is now serving his district 
as school director. He and his family are members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Their postoffice is at Champaign and they are well 
known in that city. 

FRANCIS M. LEIGH of St. Joseph village is one of Champaign County's 
veteran farmers. He is also one of those living who have seen most of 
the development of this section of the country. His own part has been 
not entirely that of a witness, and taking the aggregate results of the work 
and influence of the Leigh family it can truthfully be said that their lives 
are inseparably identified with all the real history of the county. 

Mr. Leigh is one of the oldest native sons of St. Joseph Township, 
having been born on a farm a mile and a quarter north of the village of 
that name September 3, 1845. His parents were Henry and Jemimah 
(Fisher) Leigh, natives of Virginia who early settled in Ohio, where they 
married, and in the spring of 1836 journeyed westward on horseback to 
Illinois, living two years where the town of Catlin now stands in Ver- 
milion County, and then coming to Champaign County and locating in St. 
Joseph Township. Francis Leigh was fourth in a family of seven children, 
three sons and four daughters. 

There were few of the modern facilities for giving an education to a 
family when Francis Leigh was a boy, and he and his brothers and sisters 
would walk two and a half miles every day back and forth to the school- 
house, where a three months' terms was about the extent of the book advan- 
tages for each year. Henry Leigh was never in rugged health, and his 
sons from an early age had to assist in the labors of the farm. 

At the age of twenty-two Francis Leigh laid the foundation of his own 
home by his marriage to Martha Eoss. She was a native of Edgar County, 
Illinois, and daughter of John and Catherine Eoss. Mr. and Mrs. Leigh 
confronted life bravely and with every anticipation of success and had the 
youth and enthusiasm that insured a bright future. In looking after a 
home they bought eighty acres of Illinois Central Eailroad land a mile 
north of the village of St. Joseph. For this land they paid only $10 an acre. 
The prairie had never been broken by the plow, and there were no building 
improvements. They began housekeeping in a very simple home, plowed 
and cultivated the fields, and as the fruit of their industry they were able 
to make from time to time many improvements that added to their comfort 
and convenience. They put up comfortable buildings, planted fruit and 
shade trees, and in course of time added to their estate until the farm con- 
sisted of 200 acres. When Mr. Leigh sold this farm four years ago it 
brought $225 an acre. It is noteworthy that when his father, Henry 
Leigh, entered his 120 acres from the Government the price was only $1.25 
per acre. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Leigh were born nine children, three of whom died 
in infancy. The other six are Catherine, Ivy, Lola, John Milton, Marion E. 
and William Everett. Mr. and Mrs. Leigh recognized their duty to these 
young people and saw to it that they had opportunities to attend regularly 
as possible school in District No. 171. The children grew up and they are 
now married and settled in life. Catherine is the wife of Lafayette 
Murphy, a Michigan farmer, and her children are named Frank, Lora, Ora, 
Fred and Ruth. The daughter Ivy is the wife of Elmer Stoup, a farmer 
north of Fythian in Vermilion County. Lola L. married Elmer Bantz, 



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HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 965 

living in Homer Township, and their three children are Frank. Clyde and 
Faye. John M., a farmer in St. Joseph Township, married Lula Jacobs 
and has three children, Rolla, Edward and Arvilla. Marion E. has had a 
very successful career as a farmer and is now living retired in St. Joseph. 
He married Belle Lease and their family consists of Cora and Etta. The 
son William Everett farms the old homestead of his father and by his 
marriage to Virginia Carr has three children, Eay, Louis and Ivy. 

The companion of his early struggles as a farmer and the sharer of his 
joys and sorrows was taken from Mr. Leigh a number of years ago. Later 
he married Mrs. Clara Chase, widow of Albert Chase. Her two children 
by that marriage were Carl and Pearl Chase, both of whom received their 
education in the Catlin School. Carl is now train dispatcher at Peru, 
Indiana, and by his marriage to Alice Ginther has a daughter, Martha 
Temperance. Pearl is the wife of Charles Boughton and their family 
consists of two children, Holland and Wilma. 

The active years of his life Mr. Leigh spent as a farmer, grain raiser 
and handler of horses and other live stock. About ten years ago he gave 
up the responsibilities of the farm and removed to the village of St. 
Joseph, where he bought a good home on Main Street. This house he 
has extensively remodeled, adding to it and improving it and beautifying 
the grounds. 

Many of the experiences of Mr. Leigh reflect the history of changes 
and developments in Champaign County. During the winter of 1862 he 
hauled corn to Champaign and sold it at 9 cents a bushel. The same year 
the taxes on his farm were $2.50 and he had difficulty in raising even that 
small amount. Even before then his father had hauled wheat to Chicago 
and was barely able to exchange a large load for a limited supply of gro- 
ceries. That was a time when toil and hardship were scantily rewarded. 
In spite of the present era of high prices and the complaints made on that 
score it is evidence that a bushel of grain today will command more of the 
necessities and luxuries of life than at any time in history. Mr. Leigh 
was only nine years of age when he had his first experience as a practical 
farmer. He was set to work plowing corn for his father with one of the 
old-fashioned single-shovel plows. That was hard work, but he had no 
idea how hard it really was since he was unable to contrast the implements 
he used with the modern riding plow. Mr. Leigh can look back to a 
time when in the spring of the year half of the land in Champaign County 
was covered with water. Evidently all the changes and developments are 
the result of strenuous labors on the part of the farmers and the early 
settlers and those who have followed them, and it is impossible to pay all 
the honor that they deserve to such people. When Mr. Leigh was a small 
boy he drove in a wagon to Champaign with his mother to witness the first 
train pass through the county on the Illinois Central Railway. His father 
was a very successful hunter. At that time deer and other wild game 
abounded, and Mr. Leigh recalls a time when eleven deer carcasses were 
hanging up as the store of winter meat. His father also understood the 
art of tanning, and always converted the deer hides into a fine quality of 
buckskin. He was also expert in making whips and other useful articles 
out of buckskin. Mr. Leigh as a boy several times wandered over that 
portion of the land where the city of Champaign now stands, and he knew 
St. Joseph Township as a variegated vista of wild prairie and sloughs. 

Mr. Leigh served as a director of his local schools for twenty years 
and also served as mayor of the village of St. Joseph two terms, being 
solicited to take the office again, but declining. He was an active member 
of the Christian Church at St. Joseph, is a Democrat in politics and is a 
member of the Modern Woodmen of America. 



966 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

JOHN W. REARDON. The people of a large section of central Illinois 
as well as northwestern Champaign County know the name Reardon because 
of its prominent associations with the live stock industry as well as with 
agriculture and commercial affairs. The Reardon family established its 
home in Champaign County nearly half a century ago, and with a farm 
as the foundation of their efforts steadily progressed until they became 
large and extensive land owners. A younger representative of this family 
is Mr. John W. Reardon, whose field of enterprise has been gradually 
extended until he has almost a state-wide, if not an interstate, reputation 
as a breeder and importer of fine draft horses. 

Mr. Reardon was born in Champaign County, October 3, 1869, the 
only child of James and Ellen (Burns) Reardon. His father was a native 
of the Emerald Isle, born there in 1832. He lived long and usefully and 
well, and died on Washington's birthday, February 22, 1916. The close 
of his life found him honored, esteemed and to a degree a man of wealth. 
Far otherwise was it with him when he came to America at the age of 
fourteen. He was a penniless boy and arrived to find himself alone and 
among strangers. He had come across the ocean on one of the old-fashioned 
sailing vessels. He left the city of Cork, his native county being Cork, and 
landed in Baltimore. Here he soon found employment with the construc- 
tion forces of the Pennsylvania Railway System. He aided in building 
one of the lines of that road to Pittsburgh. 

James Reardon came to Illinois in 1857. He was then a young man 
without capital and started at the very bottom round of the ladder and 
climbed up from rung to rung, at first for several years as a renter in Carroll 
County, then four years as a wage earner in Bloomington, and with such 
modest capital as he had been able to accumulate during these years he came 
to Champaign County and bought forty acres west of Fisher. In that 
community he had his home and was actively engaged in superintending 
his landed interests until 1914, when he retired to the village of Fisher, 
where he died two years later. His success as a farmer and business man 
was represented by the accumulation of 840 acres of the rich and fertile 
soil of Champaign County. Politically he was a Democrat and was an 
active member of St. Malachi Catholic Church at Rantoul. He aided in the 
construction of the church edifice there. His good wife was a native of 
County Cork, Ireland, and her Burns ancestry originally had its seat in 
Scotland. She was an active and devoted member of the same church as 
her husband. 

John W. Reardon had only the rudiments of a common school educa- 
tion. From boyhood he recognized life as a great opportunity for experi- 
ence and the expression of the best talents within him, and his activities 
have occupied no restricted limits. For years he was active as a farmer, 
manager of his father's large estate, but some years ago he engaged in .the 
importation of the noted draft horse's of the Belgian and Percheron breeds, 
bringing them from France and Belgium before the war. That business 
he has followed for fourteen years, and is accounted an authority on these 
two strains. He has sold horses all over central Illinois, and has been 
the means of raising the standard and type of the animals that perform the 
heavy labor of this farming region. At present he has about ten head of 
fine horses, both mares and stallions, containing some of the best blood of 
the Belgian and Percheron breeds. The highest price he ever obtained for 
a horse was $2,200. He has bought and sold large numbers of these 
animals. 

The live stock industry has always made a strong appeal to his tastes 
and inclinations, and he has been successful in that field since early man- 
hood. He has raised and sold cattle, horses, sheep and hogs for a number 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 967 

of years. Mr. Reardon is the owner altogether of 610 acres, most of it in 
Illinois and some in the State of Texas. 

His business field has also been extended to dealing in agricultural 
implements and automobiles. He represents some of the best known manu- 
facturers, .including the Case, Mitchell, Chevrolet, National and Olds makes, 
and has sold a great number of the high class cars over central Illinois, a 
district with a population that can well afford automobiles. Mr. Reardon 
since 1910 has also conducted a grain business at Osman, where he has 
a large elevator with a capacity of 40,000 bushels. 

Politically Mr. Reardon is a Democrat. His business affairs have taken 
his time and energies to the exclusion of politics, and he has never been 
an office seeker. He belongs to no fraternity, but is a very consistent and 
regular attendant and worshiper in St. Malachi Catholic Church at Ran- 
toul. Thus his career has been spent in the county where he was born 
and where he grew up, and he is a man of the highest business standing 
and of unimpeachable citizenship. 

JACOB W. SMITH, whose extensive farming interests are in Crittenden 
Township, has known Champaign County as a home for nearly thirty 
years. His work and management have brought him success to a high 
degree, and he has long enjoyed a position among the most influential 
residents of southern Champaign County. 

Mr. Smith was born in Racine County, Wisconsin, November 30, 1858. 
His parents, Frederick and Catherine (Bienemann) Smith, were both 
natives of Germany, his father of Mecklenburg. The father came to 
America when about eighteen years of age and spent his active life as a 
farmer in Wisconsin, where he died in 1895. The mother passed away in 
1869, when Jacob was eleven years old. There were eight children in the 
family, of whom two brothers and one sister of Jacob are living in Wiscon- 
sin, and four brothers are deceased. 

Jacob W. Smith had a training in the district schools of Wisconsin 
and learned farming by practical experience. He began life for himself 
without capital at the age of seventeen, and has made steady progress 
against all vicissitudes and difficulties. In 1888, coming to Champaign 
County, he was able to acquire 160 acres in section 29 of Crittenden 
Township and has since increased his land holdings there to 440 acres, 
and at the same time has added marvelously to the value and the improve- 
ments. He is one of the leading general farmers and stock feeders in 
that section. Besides his interest as a farmer Mr. Smith is president of 
the Pesotum Bank. His farm home is. supplied with mail from Pesotum 
over Rural Route No. 55. 

Mr. Smith married for his first wife, Miss Mary Best, a native of 
Peoria County, Illinois. She died September 25, 1892, leaving five 
children : Frank, a resident of Colorado ; Ella, who died at the age of 
fifteen; Joseph, also deceased; Leo, of Crittenden Township; and Bertha, 
who died in infancy. On January 25, 1894, Mr. Smith married for his 
present wife Anna Henry, a native of Morris, Indiana. To this marriage 
have been born nine children, all of whom are living and are still members 
of the unbroken family circle. Their names in order of birth are Herbert, 
Alvin, Walter, Raymond, Mary, Edith, Ruth, James and Alice. 

While building up his private fortune Mr. Smith has not neglected 
the call of the community upon his services and has filled such offices, 
significant of community esteem and offering great opportunities for 
service without compensation, as township collector, road commissioner, 
assessor and school trustee. In politics he is a Democrat, and he and his 
family worship in the Catholic Church. 



968 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

OSCAR WALTER SCHINDLER. . Since attaining his majority Oscar Walter 
Schindler has found himself busied with constantly increasing duties and 
responsibilities as a farmer and stockman in Sidney Township, and is now 
handling a large part of the farming estate acquired by his father in that 
section of Champaign County. 

Mr. Schindler was born at Sidney, December 13, 1886, a son of 
Robert H. and Alvina P. (Block) Schindler. The parents were both 
natives of Germany. His father was brought to this country at the age of 
two years, spent his youth in New York State, and in 1860 joined the early 
settlers of Champaign County. For a time he lived in the village of Sidney 
and subsequently bought a farm in section 28 of that township. His efforts 
as a farmer were more than ordinarily successful and at the time of his 
death on January 13, 1912, he owned an estate of 600 acres, magnificently 
improved and recognized as one of the best individual farms in the entire 
county. The widowed mother is still living on the old homestead. There 
were five children : John E. of Sidney Township ; Fred, who died in 
infancy; William H. of Sidney Township; Oscar W. ; and Freda K., wife 
of Orville Zook of Danville, Illinois. 

Oscar Walter Schindler grew up in a home of simple comforts, was 
educated in the district schools, and acquired a practical knowledge of 
farming even before he reached his majority. At the age of twenty-one 
he rented 120 acres, and farmed it until 1912. Then for two years he 
had 130 acres and is now handling 205 acres of the old homestead. He is 
rapidly developing the registered Shorthorn cattle as a primary interest 
in his farming. 

Mr. Schindler is a Republican and a member of the German Reformed 
Church. His father was a man of well known public spirit and served at 
one time as supervisor and also as school trustee. 

CLARENCE L. WILLIAMS is an enterprising farmer of Philo Township 
and is now living in section 25, on the land where he was born August 
7, 1875. 

The family is an old and prominent one of Champaign County. His 
parents were Elias and Hannah (Peterson) Williams. Both were born in 
Franklin County, Indiana. Elias Williams came to Illinois in early man- 
hood and located in Champaign County during the early '60s. His first 
possessions here were eighty acres and he subsequently added another 
eighty acres and had the farm well improved and under profitable opera- 
tion long before his death, which occurred June 19, 1914. His widow 
died May 22, 1917, at Philo. Their three children are: Clark E., of 
Bluffton, Indiana; Ella M., at home; and Clarence L. 

Clarence L. Williams grew up on the homestead, attended the district 
schools, and at the age of nineteen began his independent career by renting 
a home place of eighty acres. He has since bought the entire farm of 
160 acres and has it under splendid control. Mr. Williams is a Republi- 
can in politics. His interest in local schools is indicated by the fact that 
for the past fifteen years he has served as director of his home district. 
He and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church. 

He married Catherine Churchill, who was born in New York State. 
Their four children, all at home, are Nellie, Roy, Dorothea and Karl. 

LUTHER C. WADE. While the agricultural community of Champaign 
County is known as one of the most progressive and prosperous of the 
world, the same quality of enterprise distinguishes the commercial element. 
A business organization that has made a successful record due to the hard 
work and enterprise of its members is the hardware house of Chapman & 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 969 

Wade at Fisher. Both members are young merchants, know thoroughly 
the art of sticking close to their business, and at the same time can take a 
long look ahead when that is required. They have made their house one 
of the leading establishments in the northwest part of the county, and the 
volume of their yearly business aggregates $30,000. 

The junior member of this firm is Luther C. Wade, who has been a 
resident of Champaign County for twenty-two years. In that time in 
his relations as a merchant and as a citizen he has earned the respect of 
all who know him. Mr. Wade was born in Ad"ams County, Ohio, November 
1, 1886. He is the fifth in a family of six children, four sons and two 
daughters, born to Edmund and Susannah (Potts) Wade. Five of the 
children are still living. E. L. Wade, the oldest, was educated in the com- 
mon schools, had two terms of instruction in Westfield College of Illinois, 
and is now married and a successful agriculturist in Brown Township, with 
home at Fisher. Charles H., the next in age, had a common school train- 
ing, was an agriculturist and owns a well equipped farm of 160 acres in 
Colorado. He married Miss Lucy Ring, and they have six children. In 
politics he is a Socialist. Rosetta is the wife of Bert Chapman. The next 
of the family is Luther C. Wade. Orla J. resides in Champaign County. 

Edmund Wade 'was born in Ohio, and throughout his active lifetime has 
followed agriculture as his main pursuit. The name Wade is of English or 
Welsh lineage. Mrs. Edmund Wade is now deceased. 

Luther C. Wade was educated in the common schools, took a business 
course in Brown's Business College at Champaign, and was also a student of 
instrumental music at the University of Illinois. He began his career at 
the very bottom round of the ladder and has climbed steadily to the heights 
of success. 

After his education was finished Mr. Wade spent eight years as a renter 
of land in Brown Township of Champaign County, and finally left the 
farm to join Mr. Chapman in a partnership in the hardware business at 
Fisher. In 1916 Mr. Wade entered the Worsham Embalming School at 
Chicago, took the full course, and the members of his firm are now the only 
undertakers and embalmers at Fisher. They are thoroughly competent for 
this useful calling. 

On September 30, 1908, Mr. Wade married Miss Leila Gossard. They 
have two young sons, Willard Edmund and Robert Earl. Willard E. is 
now in the first grade of the public schools. Mrs. Wade is a native of 
Champaign County, where she was born November 18, 1888, a daughter 
of Urvin and Belle (Hoffman) Gossard. Mrs. Wade was her parents' only 
child. Her father was a native of Fayette County, Ohio, but was reared 
and educated in Illinois, learned the trade of blacksmith, and for a number 
of years has been engaged in merchandising at Fisher, where he still resides. 
He is a member of the United Brethren Church of that city and a Pro- 
hibitionist in politics. Mrs. Wade's mother is now deceased. Mrs. Wade 
was educated in the common schools and has also taken courses in instru- 
mental music. She is an active member of the United Brethren Church 
and president of the Ladies' Aid Society. In matters of politics Mr. Wade 
is independent. He votes for the man he considers best fitted for the 
office, and is like thousands of other independent thinking young men of 
America today. Fraternally he is affiliated with the camp at Fisher of the 
Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. and Mrs. Wade are young people who 
command the complete respect of their neighbors and friends, take an 
earnest attitude toward the problems of life, and have done much to solve 
the problems connected with comfortable living. They have their own 
automobile and have surrounded themselves with many of the comforts and 
conveniences. 



970 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

HAELAN W. Six. To those who have never had an opportunity to 
visit a modern Illinois farm and watch its industries being carefully and 
methodically carried on, it would be an interesting and enlightening 
experience to take a vacation trip through the rich farming districts of 
Champaign County. They would find no better pjoof of intelligent, 
scientific cultivation of the_ soil and its marvelous effects in any section 
better demonstrated than in Ayers Township, where is located the finely 
improved farm of Harlan W. Six, who is one of the township's representa- 
tive citizens and trustworthy public officials. 

Harlan W. Six was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, October 21, 
1861, and is a son of Presley H. and Mary E. (Palmer) Six. The father 
was born in Kentucky and the mother in Pennsylvania. They were mar- 
ried and resided in Kentucky until 1870, when they came to Illinois. The 
father was a farmer and before purchasing a permanent home decided to 
look over different sections. From 1870 until 1872 the family lived near 
Lincoln in Logan County, and then came to Champaign County, and 
here in 1877 Presley H. Six purchased eighty acres of land situated in 
section 33, Ayers Township. Subsequently 160 acres were added to the 
original purchase, and all of the land has been put under a fine state of 
cultivation. The modern two-story brick residence was built in 1910, and 
it is equipped with conveniences that make it an ideal rural home. 
Presley H. Six died on this farm on February 7, 1900, having been the 
father of two children, Harlan W. and Emma B., the latter of whom 
is deceased. She was the wife of Joseph Alexander. The mother resides 
with her son on the homestead. 

After completing his public school education Harlan W. Six very 
naturally gave his father assistance on the farm, and as his tastes lie in 
this direction has made agricultural industries his main interest although 
he is additionally concerned with other enterprises and is vice president 
of the State Bank at Allerton, Illinois. 

Mr. Six was married in August, 1897, to Miss Nellie Telling, who 
was born in Morgan County, and they have three children : Olga Helen, 
Harvey Presley and Palmer Telling. 

In politics Mr. Six has always been a Democrat and long has been an 
influential factor in township politics. Aside from politics, however, he 
has been one of the earnest, hardworking men of this section through 
whose efforts better conditions along many paths have been brought about. 
During his two terms as supervisor the township greatly profited and as 
township school treasurer, an office he has filled for the past fifteen years, 
the school funds have been wisely handled. He is a leading spirit in a 
number of local organizations and his fraternal memberships include the 
Modern Woodmen of America and the Masons, being a Knight Templar 
in the latter. He is a man of genial personality and even temperament, 
and his friends may be found everywhere. 

CLYDE L. BUSEY, whose active part as a citizen of Champaign County 
is farming and managing one of the fine farms in Sidney Township, is one 
of the sturdy representatives of a name that has been identified with this 
section of Illinois since pioneer times. 

His father, Simeon Fountain Busey, was born in Sidney Township, Feb- 
ruary 12, 1854, a son of Fountain J. and Maria (Sheppard) Busey. Foun- 
tain J. was born in Kentucky and his wife in Ohio. Fountain Busey came 
to Champaign County in the early '40s and acquired and developed a hand- 
some estate of farming land. His death occurred July 24, 1894, and his 
wife passed away October 2, 1889. They were the parents of thirteen 
children, five of whom are still living. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 971 

Simeon F. Busey has always had his home in Sidney Township and 
his practical life has been spent in agriculture and its related activities. 
He is a Democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On 
January 16, 1879, he married Fannie B. Wilson, who was born in Ohio. 
They had only two children, Clyde L. and Ruth. The daughter was born 
April 6, 1387, and died June 9, 1908, at the age of twenty-one. 

Clyde L. Busey was born on his father's farm in Sidney Township, 
March 4, 1880, and besides the rural schools he attended the high school 
at Sidney. His early experiences were as a farmer with his father and 
for two years he was in the wholesale grocery business at Danville, Illinois. 
Since then he has been at home and is now working 160 acres as a general 
farming and stock raising proposition. 

On January 5, 1909, he married Leah Fisher. Mrs. Busey was born at 
Sidney, daughter of Luther and Eunice (Gard) Fisher, her father a 
native of Champaign County and her mother of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. 
Busey had one child, a daughter, who died in infancy. 

Mr. Busey is a Republican, a member of the Masonic order and the 
Knights of Pythias, and with his wife attends the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

EDWARD C. BAKER. Born on a farm in Champaign County, Edward 
C. Baker has never deviated to any extent from the vocations to which he 
was reared, and increasingly fruitful results have flowed from his efforts. 
He now has the handling and management of one of the finest stock and 
grain farms of Champaign Township, located on Rural Route No. 5 out of 
the City of Champaign. 

Mr. Baker was born in Rantoul Township February 26, 1872, and is a 
son of Henry and Mary (Gehmrote) Baker. His parents were both born 
in Germany. Henry Baker came to America in 1837, and in the same 
year located at Champaign. For a short while he was a railroad work- 
man, afterward did teaming in Champaign, and then removed to Rantoul 
Township, where he bought a farm. He was successfully identified with 
the management of that place until his death in February, 1896. His 
wife died there in 1880. Their children were nine in number: William, 
of Arcola, Illinois; Anna, wife of Adolph Langhoff, of Urbana; Lucy, wife 
of Charles Miers, of Thomasboro, Illinois ; Henry, of Rantoul ; Minnie, 
who lives at Thomasboro, widow of Jacob Miers; Edward C. ; George, of 
Hensley Township; Albert, of Somers Township; and Louis, deceased. 

The environment of the average farm boy encompassed Edward C. 
Baker while he was growing to manhood, and his early education came 
from the local schools. At the age of eighteen he began farm work at 
monthly wages. After two years he rented a place of forty acres, and 
then leased and had under his direct management for three years 120 acres 
of the home farm. When the homestead was sold and divided he acquired 
forty acres of it, but soon took up farming on the renting plan, which on 
the whole he has found eminently satisfactory, especially when the high 
prices of land are considered. He rented eighty acres, which he fanned 
two years, and in 1900 he rented the 290 acres of the Burnham estate in 
section 2 of Champaign Township. This is a model estate, and Mr. Baker 
has proved himself a competent man to handle it. He is a general 
farmer, but also has a large dairy of Jersey cows. 

On April 22, 1896, Mr. Baker married Miss Charlotte Demien, a 
native of Champaign County. They have two children : Joseph Louie, 
born October 9, 1899, and Olive Esther, who was born August 25, 1903, 
and died September 1, 1904. Mr. Baker is a Republican, a member of 
the Lutheran Church, and has been a member of the local school board. 



972 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mrs. Baker is a daughter of John and Caroline (Peters) Demien, both 
natives of Germany. Her father came to America about 1858 and was 
one of the pioneers at Champaign, Illinois. He assisted in building the 
Mark Carley home, the first house in Champaign, and he also helped set 
out the trees in the city park there. He was an employe of the Illinois 
Central Eailway until injured, and then took up farming on eighty acres 
in Hensley Township. That was the stage of his active efforts and enter- 
prise for seventeen years, after which he sold and bought 160 acres east of 
Thomasboro. He farmed that land for twenty-two years, and then retired 
and removed to Gifford, where his wife died March 19, 1911, and he - 
himself passed away March 7, 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Demien had the 
following children : Otelia, deceased ; Caroline, wife of Adam Heardt, of 
Burt, Iowa ; Fred, of Pomeroy, Iowa ; Martha, wife of Richard Altman, 
of Penfield, Illinois ; Matilda, twin sister of Martha, wife of R. L. Washer, 
of Urbana; Charlotte, wife of Mr. Edward C. Baker; Verona, wife of C. 
F. Manke, of Thomasboro; Renatha, twin sister of Verona and living in 
Chicago; Lucy, wife of Henry Langhoff, of Somers Township; and Louie, 
of Rantoul Township. 

Louis DENHAET. If true success consists in a steady betterment of 
one's material circumstances, a growing enlargement of views and increasing 
influence as a member of the community, the life of Louis Denhart has 
been exceptionally successful by all the standards that might be applied 
to it. 

Mr. Denhart, who though looking after the cultivation of a large 
amount of farming land, resides in the town of St. Joseph, was born in 
Harrison County, Indiana. His parents were John and Elizabeth Zim- 
merman Denhart, both natives of Germany. They came to America when 
still single, and were married in this country and located on a farm in 
Indiana. They had eleven children, Louis being the sixth. All these chil- 
dren grew up and received their education in district schools of Indiana. 

Louis Denhart came when a youth to visit his brother George in Cham- 
paign County, and after being here four years was so favorably impressed 
with the country that he determined to make it his own home. The part 
of Indiana where he grew up was a rough and rocky region and he liked 
the contrast afforded by the fertile and level lands of old Champaign. 
Mr. Denhart has been a resident of Champaign County since 1884. 

In 1888 he married Miss Sophia Keehn. She is also a native of 
Indiana, a daughter of Henry and Emma Keehn, and she grew up there 
and received her education in the public schools. After their marriage 
Mr. and Mrs. Denhart located on a forty-acre tract of land southeast of 
Mayview in St. Joseph Township. From the thrifty saving and accumula- 
tion of his work as a wage earner he bought this land on time, at a contract 
price of $40 an acre. Forty acres was hardly enough for his individual 
enterprise as a farmer and he rented the adjoining sixty acres, and with 
his team began the task of acquiring a substantial position in the com- 
munity. There were trials and vicissitudes, setbacks as well as advances, 
and some years there was a partial crop failure, then again the market for 
grain went down to the bottom, and countless other discouragements had 
to be met. But he and his wife possessed courage and energy, and were 
willing to toil early and late in order to get the objects upon which their 
ambition centered. During the working season Mr. Denhart would spend 
practically the entire day, from sun up to sun down, away from home,, 
while his young wife remained diligently at work in the home. They 
possessed few of the facilities for enjoying life. There were few buggies, 
and the old wagon answered the purposes of a Ford car in those strenuous 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 973 

times. But the sequel of this period of hard work is a pleasing story. 
In course of time Mr. and Mrs. Denhart had accumulated an estate of 620 
acres and in many ways improved and beautified their farm. They set up 
a modern residence, planted fruit and shade trees, and all of it now stands 
as a -monument to their persevering toil. Mr. Denhart has done a great 
deal in the line of fruit growing, and long ago made it a, rule to set out 
each year some fruit trees either as an extension to his orchard or to fill in 
vacancies. 

Into their home were born successively eight children : Clarence, Cora, 
Prank, Ollie, Floyd, Lawrence, Howard and Wilma. These children 
attended the high school at St. Joseph, and Clarence and Prank attended 
Brown's Business College at Champaign and also specialized in the study 
of agriculture. While four of the children still remain at home, the others 
have married and are successful people of the younger generation. 

Clarence, who lives on one of his father's farms, married Luella Bridge- 
water and has two children, Beryl and Dorothy. The daughter Cora mar- 
ried Walter Manges and they live on her father's farm west of St. Joseph. 
Their three children are Louis, Preda and Eobert. Prank Denhart, a 
successful farmer in St. Joseph Township, cultivating some of his father's 
broad acres, married Grace Stiner of Mayview. Ollie Denhart is the 
wife of William Hartman, and they have one small daughter, Helen 
Verdena. 

Mr. Denhart through many years has been an extensive stock and grain 
raiser and has sold an immense volume of agricultural produce to the local 
traders and shippers. He is one of the most progressive farmers of the 
county. His business judgment has brought him to the attention of his 
fellow citizens, who have entrusted him with public responsibilities. Por 
twelve years he has served as a member of the town council at St. Joseph. 
He and. his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
that village, and their children attend Sunday school. Fraternally Mr. 
Denhart is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and in politics 
he is a Democrat. 

For the past eighteen years his home has been in St. Joseph and during 
. that time he has actively supervised the cultivation of a fine tract of 330 
acres of farm land adjoining the town. ' His home at the end of Shejman 
Street is an attractive one. The grounds are amply shaded, and the home 
has a restful and comfortable atmosphere that is of itself a token of the 
substantial character of its occupants. 

BERT LEEOY CHAPMAN. Aggressive methods, keen insight into com- 
mercial conditions, a thorough and far-reaching appreciation of the needs 
of the trade, are characteristics which develop a man into a successful 
factor in the business life of any community and result in the founding 
and development of concerns that give that community prestige. Condi- 
tions today are so complex, competition is so keen, and the needs of the 
world are increasing so rapidly that every' branch of commercial and indus- 
trial life feels the impetus of the times. The day of slow and sure business 
policies is gone; the business enterprises of today are conducted along 
entirely different lines than those of our forefathers, and the men who 
attain success are those who are possessed of power of initiative, resource 
and aggression. One of the most enterprising of the merchants of Fisher 
is Bert Leroy Chapman, senior member of the hardware firm of Chapman & 
Wade. This young business man has achieved success and reputation at 
a time when many men are merely starting upon their careers, and the 
characteristics above noted have been important concomitants in the working 
out of his career. 

2 29 



974 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

^ 

Bert'Leroy Chapman was born in Vermilion County, Indiana, Septem- 
ber 18, 1878, the third in a family of three sons born to Nelson and Eosanna 
(Sims) Chapman. He has one brother living, Pearl Albert Chapman, 
who was educated in the common schools and is now editor and manager 
of the Bellflower News at Bellflower, McLean County, Illinois. He mar- 
ried Miss Laura McGowan, and has four children. Nelson Chapman was 
born in Indiana of English ancestry, and spent his career as an agricul- 
turist. He did not live to see his ambitions for success realized, as his 
death occurred when his son Bert was three years old, in 1882. His polit- 
ical belief was that of the Republican party. The mother of Bert L. 
Chapman was also born in Indiana, where she received a public school 
education, and after the death of her first husband she married a Mr. Bay- 
singer, who is also deceased. For her third husband she married George 
Browne, an agriculturist, and they now reside on a valuable property in 
Champaign County. 

The educational training of Bert L. Chapman was secured in the public 
schools, and when he was still a lad he gained experience in the line of self- 
support, working long hours in a tile factory at a wage of 50 cents per 
day. This discipline, while hard, was to prove valuable to him in after 
years and to make him place a just value upon the worth of money. When 
he left that vocation he began work as a wage earner on a farm, being thus 
occupied for ten years, at the end of which time he had accumulated suffi- 
cient capital to set himself up as a renter of land in Champaign County. 
His tastes, however, as well as his abilities, seemed to lie along mercantile 
lines, and after seven years of struggle with the soil he gave up agricul- 
tural operations and came to Fisher, where he established himself in 
business as the proprietor of a cafe. Less than one year of experience in 
this direction sufficed to show him that he had not yet found his proper 
groove, and he disposed of his cafe to embark, in a modest way, in the 
hardware business. Like all enterprises that grow to be anything wocth 
while, the first several years were lean and hard ones, but Mr. Chapman 
was possessed of the necessary business acumen, had the courage of his con- 
victions, and was determined to succeed, and through aggressive tactics and 
progressive and persistent methods won his way through, and the venture 
that started in a small and inconspicuous way has grown to be one of the 
foremost business establishments of the town of Fisher. On March 7, 1916, 
Mr. Chapman entered into partnership with Luther Wade, and at the 
present time the house of Chapman & Wade carries a full and up-to-date 
line of shelf and heavy hardware and furniture, and in addition conduct 
an undertaking department. The volume of the yearly trade is now 
from $25,000 to $30,000, this having been built up through honest policies, 
fair representation and honorable methods of procedure. Mr. Chapman is 
the owner of a handsome residence and is accounted one of the substantial 
residents of the community. 

On January 14, 1903. Mr, Chapman was married to Miss Elizabeth R. 
Wade, and of the four children born to this union three are living: 
Mabel R., who is attending school as a member of the fourth grade; and 
Lucille and Russell L., who are at home. Mrs. Chapman was born in 
Adams County, Ohio, July 31, 1878, and was educated in the public 
schools. She is a daughter of Edmund and Susannah (Potts) Wade, her 
father being a native of Adams County, Ohio. Mr. Wade has been engaged 
in agricultural pursuits all his life, and at the present time is the owner 
of 160 acres of land in Brown Township, Champaign County. He is a 
Prohibitionist and is a member of the United Brethren Church, as was 
also Mrs. Wade. Mr. Wade has always been a friend of public improve- 
ments, one of the public-spirited men who have supported movements 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 975 

making for the general welfare, and a believer in education who has served 
as a member of the board of school directors. Mrs. Wade, who was born 
in Ohio, died in Champaign County, January 23, 1897. 

Mr. Chapman is a Republican. He cast his first presidential vote for 
William H. Taft, but has not been active in political affairs. However, he 
has always been ready to serve his community, and as an official is a member 
of the school board and of the town council. His fraternal connection is 
with Sangamon Lodge No. 801, A. F. & A. M., at Fisher, and the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, which has a strong lodge at this place. 
Mr. and Mrs. Chapman are members of the United Brethren Church at 
Fisher, and Mr. Chapman serves as superintendent of the Sunday school, 
which has an attendance every Sunday of about fifty. A further fraternal 
connection of Mr. Chapman is with Camp No. 2534 of the Modern Woodmen 
of America, of which he has been clerk four years and of which he is at 
present banker. 

Mr. and Mrs. Chapman are young people who enjoy life and who are 
eager to help others enjoy it also. While they are greatly attached to their 
home, they are also enthusiastic about other parts of the great central 
agricultural country of Illinois, which they frequently visit on sight-seeing 
trips in their automobile. 

JAMES BARBEK. Of the fine homesteads scattered about Champaign 
County one that betrays to the casual observer every evidence of thrifty 
and careful management and successful operation is that of James Barber, 
located in Champaign Township, on Rural Route No. 1 out of the city 
of Champaign. 

Mr. Barber has been a practical farmer in Champaign County since 
early youth, is a young man, vigorous and far sighted and keen in handling 
every detail of agricultural management. He was born in Colfax Town- 
ship of Champaign County April 1, 1886, a son of Alfred C. and Louisa 
(Peters) Barber. His father was born in England and his mother in 
Kentucky. Alfred C. Barber came to the United States in 1856 with 
his parents, who located in Champaign County on a farm. Alfred Barber 
lived a long and productive life, and at his death his estate comprised 
320 acres. He died in Champaign in February, 1909, and his widow is 
still living in that city. They were the parents of fourteen children: 
Mollie, Cora and Laura, all deceased ; Oscar, of Hamilton County, Illinois ; 
Josie, wife of Layton Snyder, of Lebanon, Indiana ; Benjamin, of Scott 
Township, Champaign County; Emma, wife of Cerrola Foster, of. Scott 
Township; Nellie, wife of John Leach, of Champaign; James and John, 
twins ; Bertha, deceased ; Fannie, who lives in Champaign with her 
mother; Ethel, also in Champaign; and William, deceased. 

Mr. James Barber has lived on his present farm since he was two years 
of age. He grew up here, acquired an education in the local schools, and 
at the age of twenty he and his brother John rented two hundred acres 
of the old homestead and they have jointly managed its affairs ever since. 
Their business is general farming, growing the staple crops of the fields 
and handling sufficient live stock to convert the raw materials and to keep 
up and preserve the fertility of the soil. Mr. Barber is a Republican in 
politics and is a member of the Methodist Church. 

He was married December 12, 1906, to Nellie May Miller, a native 
of Mahomet, Illinois. Her father was George Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Barber 
have one daughter, Oleta May, born July 12, 1912. 

Mr. John Barber married Mary Cole in September, 1909, and they 
also have a daughter, Julia Bernice, born March 16, 1912. 



976 HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

HOWARD F. LOVE. One of the best managed farms in Sidney Town- 
ship is that of the Love family in section 19. The active managers of this 
estate are Howard F. Love and his brother, Clifford S. Howard F. Love 
gave up his course in agriculture at the University of Illinois to take active 
charge of the business following the death of his father. 

His parents were John and Mary E. (Adams) Love, both natives of 
Ohio. John 'Love came to Champaign County in 1852 and at that time 
located in section 19 of Sidney Township, where he took land in the raw 
state and developed its many possibilities as a farm. He was a member 
of the Masonic order, of the Presbyterian Church and in politics a Repub- 
lican. His death occurred June 2, 1910. There were five children, the 
oldest, a son, dying in infancy. The second is Clara, still at home; Mil- 
dred, the third child, was born in 1887; Howard F., the older son now 
living, was born January 25, 1889, on the home farm; and Clifford, the 
youngest, entered the University of Illinois in 1911 and graduated in the 
scientific agricultural course in 1916. He is also at home. 

Howard F. Love has put in practice a combination of thorough experi- 
ence with a liberal education. He attended the Champaign High School, 
of which he is a graduate, and spent two years in the agricultural course 
at the university. Since then he has had active charge of the home place 
and is now working 317 acres. He is specializing in live stock and has 
some fine registered Duroc Jersey hogs and is also a fancier of a pedigreed 
strain of Plymouth Rock fowls. Politically he is a Republican and is a 
member of the Presbyterian Church. 

GEORGE C. GORDON. From farm renter George C. Gordon has pro- 
gressed on the road of prosperity until 'he now owns one of the best farms 
in Urbana Township, located in section 13. He has a model country 
home and has all the facilities and conveniences of country life in Cham- 
paign County, including the daily delivery of mail over Rural Route 
No. 12. 

Mr. Gordon was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, January 3, 
1872, a son of Cljnton and Mary (Henneberger) Gordon. His parents 
were both born in Pennsylvania and are still living there, his father being 
retired from active business, and during the Civil War he was a Union 
soldier. They had seven children : Addie, wife of Jacob Stine, of Pennsyl- 
vania; Celia, deceased; Ross, of Pennsylvania; Isaac H., who lives in 
St. Joseph Township of Champaign County ; George C. ; Susan Virginia, 
wife of George P. Gray, of Berkeley, California; and Charles Clinton, of 
Urbana Township. 

George C. Gordon spent his early youth in Pennsylvania, attending the 
common schools, and finished his education in the Central Normal College 
at Danville, Indiana. He came to Champaign County in 1892, at the 
age of twenty, and for several years rented farm lands in St. Joseph 
Township. In 1896 he was able to buy his first land, sixty-three acres in 
section 24 of Urbana Township. 'He subsequently bought the fine farm he 
now lives on in section 13, comprising 132 acres. Here he has built a 
modern two-story home and has surrounded himself with many comforts 
such as his industry has well justified. 

Mr. Gordon married Clara McClain, a native of Champaign County. 
Her parents, James H. and Nancy (Truman) McClain, were early settlers 
in this county, both being now deceased. There were five children in the 
McClain family, two of whom died early. Those still living are: Hattie, 
wife of William Albertson, of Warsaw, Indiana; Martha, wife of Alfred 
Frankenberg, of St. Joseph, Illinois ; and Mrs. Gordon. 

To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were born four children: 



^W|^Vv\ 







HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 977 

Glenn H., Mary Fannie, Herbert McClain and Hilda Lavone. Mr. 
Gordon is a member of the school board of his district and for years was a 
director of the Champaign County Fair Association. He is a Republican, 
and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

DAVID H. LLOYDE is one of Champaign's oldest and most widely known 
business men. In fact, his business is practically as old as the University 
of Illinois, which, as is generally known, is one of the greatest educational 
institutions of its kind in the entire world. The Lloyde business was 
originally established for and has always been distinctively supported by the 
student body of the state university. Mr. Lloyde is also president of the 
recently organized First University Bank, located at 606 East Green Street, 
in the very heart of the student district. The chief business with which 
his many years of industrial activity have been identified are two extensive 
music, book and stationery stores, one at 7 Main Street and the other at 
606 East Green Street, in the same brick structure which houses the Lloyde 
bank. 

As a merchant he has for forty-three years supplied the needs of the 
students and others in the way of books and supplies, music, stationery, 
toys, photographic supplies, drawing instruments, pianos, organs, violins 
and small musical instruments, sewing machines, typewriters, talking 
machines and sporting goods, and is headquarters for novelties for holiday 
and other season's events. Mr. Lloyde has been a continuous resident of 
Champaign since 1874. His name and his stores are landmarks, institu- 
tions familiar to every resident of Champaign County, the Twin Cities, 
and those formerly here as students. His success has not only been the 
means of his own prosperity but has also contributed to the prosperity and 
substantial upbuilding of the entire community. 

David H. Lloyde was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, June 11, 1835, 
but has lived in Illinois nearly all his life, enjoying his experiences from 
the period of the wild prairies to these days of live modern conditions. His 
father, Captain David Lloyde, also a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, 
was a mechanic, and at twenty-two years of age, after completing his three 
years' term of service required as a mechanic, received a gold medal as a 
reward, and for his temperance principles during the learning of his trade, 
given by the Hamden Mechanical Association of Springfield, Massachusetts, 
with the inscription, "Omnia Laboribus Sustinenda," but he afterward took 
up contracting and building. He married Eliza Seaver of Somerset, Massa- 
chusetts. They were the parents of five children : David H. ; Mrs. Jennie 
Lees of Attica, Kansas ; James H., who as a Union soldier participated 
among other engagements in the battle of Shiloh, and subsequently became 
a merchant and station agent at Milo, Missouri, where he died ; Lucy, who 
married Frank Herrick, is living at Princeton, Illinois, where her husband 
is city editor of the Bureau County Republican and an ex-soldier of the 
Civil War; and George 0., who was in the Civil War, is a contractor and 
builder at Bloomington, Illinois. 

In 1838 Captain David Lloyde, Sr., brought his family to Illinois and 
established a home in what was then an unsettled and unplatted district of 
northern Illinois, Clarion Township in Bureau County, and was instru- 
mental in establishing the Lloyde schoolhouse, the first one on the prairie. 
Because of his priority of settlement and the strength of his personal char- 
acter, he was long recognized as a leader. For a number of years he taught 
school at LaMoille, one of the principal towns of Bureau County, and 
served as supervisor and justice of the peace. He established and con- 
ducted the first 'hotel at LaMoille. That was in the days when LaMoille 
was on one of the principal overland thoroughfares from Chicago to south- 



978 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

western points, and the stages regularly stopped at his old wayside tavern. 
He did much to promote public improvement. He helped to bring about 
the construction of the present courthouse, jail and several business blocks 
and residences, one for William Cullen Bryant, the noted poet, also John 
Bryant, resident in Princeton. As he was a leader in civic affairs, so he 
became a rallying force for the volunteers at the beginning of the Civil 
War. He organized Company K of the Ninety-third Illinois Infantry, 
was commissioned captain, and his life was given as a sacrifice to the 
Union. Congressman Owen Lovejoy gave him valuable assistance in organ- 
izing Company K of the Ninety-third Regiment. During the siege of 
Vicksburg, on May 16, 1863, he was shot through the heart. The old 
veterans of Bureau County have frequently recalled and testified to the 
esteem in which they held their gallant leader and comrade. His widow 
survived him until a ripe old age and was ninety-three when she died at 
Attica, Missouri, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Jennie Lees. 

David H. Lloyde remained in the pioneer home of his parents in Bureau 
County until the age of twenty-two. His education was acquired in the 
district schools and he later attended Judson College at La Salle and Illi- 
nois College at Jacksonville. During his early youth he took up contract- 
ing and building, the same business followed by his father, also conducting 
grain and stock raising farms. In the year 1874 he moved to Champaign 
and engaged in conducting the present music, stationery and book store, 
which was established in 1867, at the opening of the University of Illinois. 
That was the beginning of his long and active business associations with 
the university of the state. His store has kept pace with the development 
of the university, and his place on Main Street was enlarged to a three- 
story building with concrete basement and more recently he erected a 
two-story brick building at 606 East Green, near the corner of Green and 
Sixth streets, at the center of the university section. The celebration of 
the fiftieth anniversary of the opening 6f the Lloyde Book and Music Stores 
is now being celebrated (June 21, 1917). The First University Bank was 
organized in September, 1915, in order to furnish banking facilities for this 
special district and for the accommodation of students who keep their 
accounts there. Mr. Lloyde is a stockholder in the Illinois Trust & Sav- 
ings Bank and owner of farm land in Nebraska. He also owns some resi- 
dences and other real estate and investments, mostly in Champaign. 

He married, February 26, 1857, Miss Ellen P. Angier. Her father 
was a Baptist minister and brought his family from Vermont in 1855 and 
located at LaMoille in Bureau County. In Vermont he had married Eliza 
Luther, and in that state Mrs. Lloyde was born. She had a brother, 
Frank L. Angier, who died at Beardstown, Illinois, in 1908. He was also 
a veteran of the Civil War and three of his sons, active railroad men, are 
still living at Beardstown. 

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyde have three sons. F. H. Lloyde was actively asso- 
ciated with his father for twenty years in the store, as D. H. Lloyde & Son, 
on Main Street. He moved in 1904 to Venice, California, engaging in 
the real estate business. Clarence A. is auditor, manager of photograph, 
mimeograph, camera, typewriter and advertising departments of the stores, 
while Clifford L. is book and stock buyer, manager of the university store 
and vice president of the First University Bank. The various departments 
employ thirty or more salespeople. Through the professors, students and 
alumni of the state university the influence and reputation of the Lloyde 
stores are world wide. They have been helpful to the blessing of mental 
training and educational work for humanity at all times. The Lloyde 
slogan, "Books and Music," means the foundation of all usefulness in the 
world. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 979 

All of Mr. Lloyde's children were students of the University of Illinois. 
Robert K. Lloyde, son of C. A. Lloyde and grandson of David H. Lloyde, 
was a student at the University of Illinois and is a graduate of Cornell 
University at Ithaca, New York. He is now assistant horticulturist at the 
Mississippi State Agricultural A. M. College, Starkville, Mississippi. 

Mr. Lloyde is a member of the Baptist Church. He has become widely 
known for his benevolences and has given liberally of his means to all 
worthy institutions, regardless of denomination. The activities of the 
family in Christian work have been continuous since his marriage in 1857, 
and the three sons and wives are equally earnest in the training of young 
people in church and Bible school influences. The Lloyde family gave 
several hundred dollars to the Baptist Church at LaMoille in Bureau 
County when the present church edifice was erected in 1858, and the present 
family contributed several thousands toward the First Baptist Church of 
Champaign in 1899. Both money and individual effort have proceeded 
from the Lloyde family in behalf of such organizations as the Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League, a cause in which 
they are especially interested, and for the establishment and upkeep of 
home and foreign missions. Among individual institutions or movements 
the Lloydes have donated to the Aged Ministers' Home and the Old Peo- 
ple's Home. They were among the first to support the organization of 
the University of Chicago, Shurtleff College, and the academy for colored 
young people at Jacksonville, Florida, and for over twenty years contrib- 
uted regularly to the boys' home on the Glenwood farm near Chicago. 
They helped organize the Y. M. C. A. at Champaign in 1889, and aided 
the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. at the university by liberal donations. 
The University Students' Baptist Church, the Wesley Foundation Building, 
the Irvington and other orphanages in Illinois, also Liberty Bond and Red 
Cross work, are some of the worthy objects of their interest and Christian 
zeal a notable record of practical Christianity .for one family. 

Mr. Lloyde was a member of the Union League, organized during the 
Civil War, the only secret organization to help save the United States of 
America. He became one of the charter members of the present Sons 
of Veterans camp when it was organized in Champaign, encouraging the 
boys in many ways. 

Mr. D. H. Lloyde has also quite an interesting musical career, given 
in the history of Baptist hymn and song writers, and other sources, and 
this has been a valuable asset and help to him in the sale of all kinds of 
musical instruments. 

As a boy he evinced decided musical talent and early received instruc- 
tion from his father, who was a music teacher. When eleven years old 
he sang alto in the old-time gallery church choir and later became a leader 
of singing in church and Sunday school, teaching music during winters in 
the schoolhouses near his home in Bureau County, using his violin as a 
handy instrument to carry. As he became more interested in music he 
made the acquaintance of P. P. Bliss, H. R. Palmer, H. S. Perkins and 
others, from whom he received instruction, inspiration and encouragement, 
and for several years devoted himself to the study and teaching of vocal 
music. Later he enjoyed conducting institutes, conventions and classes. 
Among his musical activities he was engaged in Sunday school work, was 
also in touch with Ira D. Sankey, D. L. Moody and K. A. Burnell in Y. M. 
C. A. work as singer and leader of Christian song services at state and other 
mass meetings. 

At this time he gave special thought and attention to writing words 
and music of his own composition, published in "River of Life," "Royal 
Sons," "Songs of Faith," "Shining River" and other Sunday school song 
books. 



980 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

His love for music made the family at home musical, Mrs. Lloyde teach- 
ing the boys piano, the three sons and father forming a male quartet and 
an orchestra, playing violin, cornet, flute and clarinet, making use of the 
same in Sunday school and church work and citizens' orchestra for several 
years. 

Mr. Lloyde has also had large juvenile and advanced classes in the 
Twin Cities, having introduced teaching of music in the schools, through 
Professors J. W. Hays and Lansing, then superintendent of the schools, 
always insisting that music be taught the same as any other branch of 
education, which practice has now come to stay. 

Mr. Lloyde in 1874-75 filled a vacancy in the vocal music department 
at the University of Illinois, training the choir and individuals in prepara- 
tion for commencement, anniversary and other events. He won success 
as a conductor, inspired others and gave suitable instruction with pleasing 
results in conventions and large mass meetings of singing people. 

These facts state briefly some of the things that have made the life of 
the subject of this sketch a busy and useful one, and the variety of voca- 
tions has given him interesting and enjoyable occasions in the different 
realms of the world's activities. 

JAMES OSCAR SAYEES of Fisher, one of the advisory board of editors 
of the Champaign County History, has- had an active experience in this 
section of the county covering a period of forty-two years. He came here 
as a young man possessed of no financial resources, and by hard work 
and constant attention to his duties has built up a mercantile business 
whose volume is second to none in the village. Mr. Sayers is wideawake 
to all things that concern this locality and is generally recognized as one of 
the most capable men of Champaign County. 

He was born in Morrow County, Ohio, April 29, 1862, the eldest of 
three children, a son and two daughters, of John Francis and Caroline 
(Banner) Sayers. The two daughters are: Eose, wife of John Priest of 
Ashland, Ohio ; and Frances B., wife of Oscar Braderick of Fredericktown, 
Ohio. John F. Sayers, his father, also a native of Morrow County, Ohio, 
had a common school education and was a farmer by vocation. In 1865 
he took his family out to Poweshiek County, Iowa, where he lived until 
his death in August, 1869, at the very early age of thirty-three. His widow, 
who was a native of Newark, New Jersey, was a young girl when taken to 
Ohio, afterwards returned to that state and died in Fredericktown. She 
was a member of the United Brethren Church. She was of Holland-Dutch 
stock, her father being unable to speak the English language until after the 
age of ten. 

James Oscar Sayers was about three years old when his parents moved 
from Ohio to Iowa, and was only eight years old when his father died. At 
the age of eleven years he came to Champaign County, Illinois, which has 
been his residence ever since. His early education was acquired in the 
common schools. Later he took a course in the university at Valparaiso, 
Indiana. He early learned to depend upon his own exertions to put him- 
self ahead in the world, and for two years he farmed as a renter in the 
northern part of the county. Later he took a position as clerk in the store 
of S. B. Sale at Fisher, and after two years he had advanced to a point 
where he was able to purchase an interest in the business. That was in 
1887, and from that beginning has come the present firm of James 0. 
Sayers. During the disastrous fire at Fisher in 1902 his store building was 
burned, but he at once rebuilt and now has one of the most commodious 
business structures in the village. Mr. Sayers carries a splendid line of 
staple groceries, hardware and paints, and his trade has yearly been attain- 
ing a larger scope and volume. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 981 

On February 19, 1885, he married Miss Fannie M. Sale, who was born 
in Champaign County in 1863. Both her parents are now deceased. Four 
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sayers, the only one now living is 
Frank E. Sayers, who, after graduating from the Fisher schools, entered 
the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, received the degree of Bachelor 
of Science in 1911 and the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1913 from this 
institution. After completing his medical course he served one year as an 
interne in a hospital at Youngstown, Ohio. From August 1, 1914, to 
August 15, 1917, he engaged in the private practice of medicine at Normal, 
Illinois, at which latter date he entered the Medical Corps of the United 
States Navy with the commission of a first lieutenant. Doctor Sayers is 
married and has a son, Eichard. In politics he is a Republican, is a member 
of the Masonic order, and belongs to the Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Beta 
Pi (medical) college fraternities. He is also a member of the McLean 
County and Illinois State Medical societies. 

Mr. J. 0. Sayers is a Republican, and has frequently been honored with 
political responsibilities. He has been a delegate to county and State con- 
ventions, was township supervisor of Brown Township eleven years and 
chairman of the county board of supervisors for four years. For several 
years he was a director of the local schools and did much to advance and 
improve the educational facilities. He is a member of the Masonic order, 
and with his wife a member of the Methodist Church. 

JAMES CLARK MCCULLOUGH. One of the prominent agricultural 
families of Champaign County bears the name of McCullough, and from 
the time it was established here in 1854 until the present its members have 
been representative of the county's best citizenship. They have been 
identified with the upbuilding of this section in every way, not only as 
industrious and successful farmers using methods that teach others to 
make agriculture profitable, but they have given hearty support to public 
movements and to educational and religious organizations. It may well 
be deemed an honor to belong to such a family, and one of its younger 
members may be found in James Clark McCullough, who is a general 
farmer in section 29, Urbana Township, Champaign County. 

James Clark McCullough was born on the farm on which he lives, 
March 31, 1891, and is a son of John -and Annie (Clark) McCullough. 
John McCullough was born in Champaign County, December 5, 1862. 
His parents were Alexander W. and Elizabeth (Siler) McCullough, both 
of whom were born in Pennsylvania and came to Champaign County, 
Illinois, in 1854. Alexander W. McCullough rented what was known as 
the Carrol farm for two years and then located in Urbana Township, in 
section 29, and here carried on general farming until the close of his 
life. He married Elizabeth Siler and the following children were born to 
them : James S., who is deceased ; Adeline, who is the wife of W. N. 
Raymey, and they live in southwestern Missouri; Anna E., who is the 
widow of John Bond, of Tolono, Illinois; Frank, who lives at Dunnigan, 
California ; Margaret, who is the wife of S. L. Burwash ; Albert, who is 
a farmer in Urbana Township; Benjamin, who is deceased; John; and 
Sarah, who died in infancy. 

John McCullough grew to manhood in Urbana Township and has been 
a farmer and stockraiser ever since his schooldays. He has acquired a 
large acreage here and is one of the county's big tax payers. He devotes 
his 560 acres to grain growing and stockraising. On January 22, 1890, 
he was married to Miss Annie Clark, who was born in Ohio but has spent 
almost her entire life in Champaign County. Six children were born to 
this marriage: James Clark, who is a successful farmer in this township; 



982 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Helen, Mary, Fred and Margaret, all of whom are at home; and Joseph, 
who died at the age of three years. Mr. McCullough and his family are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republi- 
can and is serving as supervisor of Urbana Township. For many years 
he has been identified with the Masonic fraternity. He is one of the 
township's best known and most highly respected citizens. 

James Clark McCullough was reared in the comfortable home that it 
was his good fortune to be born into and was given the best of public 
school advantages and after leaving the high school took a business course. 
In embarking in farming he followed his natural inclination and has 
devoted himself diligently to the cultivation and improvement of his 160 
acres, a part of the old homestead. Mr. McCullough is an intelligent 
young man and has made himself acquainted with the underlying prin- 
ciples of his business, and it is to such men that the people not only in 
our own but in other lands ultimately will look for food for many years 
to come. 

Mr. McCullough was married June 29, 1915, to Miss Edna Myers, 
who is a daughter of Grant and Rose (Brennan) Myers. The father of 
Mrs. McCullough came to Champaign County in the spring of 1899. He 
was born in Ohio and the mother of Mrs. McCullough was born at Gilman, 
Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have had four children: Edna Louise, who 
is the wife of James C. McCullough; Frances, who lives with her parents; 
a son who died in infancy ; and Howard. 

JOHN W. MUMM. Now living retired at Sidney, John W. Mumm for 
years controlled and directed the operations of some of the best farming 
lands in Champaign County. His career has been productive in the best 
sense of the term and has been significant of his sturdy character, upright 
manhood and long continued industry. 

Mr. Mumm was born at Sidney in Champaign County, November 24, 
1864, and represents a family of early settlers. His parents were John J. 
and Magdalena (Witt) Mumm, both natives of Germany. His father was 
a native of the old Danish province of Holstein. When a young man 
John J. Mumm came to America and located in Champaign County, and 
lived here to acquire a large holding of fertile farm land. He and his 
wife had eight children : Annie, wife of Henry Witt of Sidney ; Emma, 
deceased ; Mary, still at home ; John W. ; Peter, deceased ; Henry of Sidney ; 
Reimer, deceased ; and a son that died in infancy. 

John W. Mumm grew up on the home farm, attended the local schools, 
and at the age of twenty-one began his independent career as renter of 
wxty acres. Soon afterwards his father gave him eighty acres. He showed 
justifiable enterprise in handling this land and with the results of his 
labors was able to buy twenty acres. Later his father gave him another 
place of 120 acres and eventually eighty acres more. He worked the land, 
improved the buildings and other equipment and made for himself and 
family one of the most substantial rural homes in the county. A number 
of years ago he erected a handsome two-story veneer brick home. 

On October 20, 1886, Mr. Mumm married Mame Malone, daughter of 
Christopher and Minnie (Gruel) Malone. Her parents were natives of 
Germany. Her father came to America as a young man and located in 
Champaign County, where he followed farming many years, but is now 
living at Pomeroy, Iowa. He and his wife had the following children: 
William of Rush Hill, Missouri; Elizabeth, wife of Harmon Passow of 
Jolly, Iowa; Mrs. John W. Mumm; Frederick, deceased; Christ W. of 
Pomeroy, Iowa; Caroline, deceased; Mollie, wife of Elmer Wells of Pom- 
eroy, Iowa; Phillip, deceased; Mary, wife of Lewis Rost of Pomeroy, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 983 

Iowa; Emma of Pomeroy; and Sadie, wife of Arthur Brown of Fonda, 
Iowa. 

The efforts put forth hy Mr. Mumm as a farmer were always stimulated 
by the presence of wife and a family of growing children. The children 
born to their union were ten in number. DeEtta is the wife of Chester 
Place, a farmer; Frederick is deceased; Luther is still on the home farm; 
Otis of Tipton, Illinois, resides on an eighty-acre farm owned by his 
father; Myrtle is the wife of Eudolph Kiewitt, of Tipton, Illinois; the other 
children, all at home, are Vera, Luella, Hazel, Cordelia and Wilson. 

In political matters Mr. Mumm has followed an independent course as a 
rule. He has served as school director and as school trustee, and in fra- 
ternal matters is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Wood- 
men of America and the Masonic order. He and his family worship in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Sidney. 

THOMAS J. EAELY. The Early family has been identified with Cham- 
paign County for over a half a century. The name is one around which 
many interests center. They have been industrious and capable farmers, 
good home makers and upright and honorable citizens in all the relations 
of life. 

One of the younger members of the family is Mr. Thomas J. Early, 
who is now active manager and farmer of the old homestead in Champaign 
Township. He was born in Colfax Township of this county December 19, 
1882, a son of John W. and Bridget (Lyman) Early. His mother was a 
member of the well known Lyman family of Champaign County. John 
W. Early, who was born in Ohio, came to Champaign County in 1861, 
lived for a time in the city of Champaign, and subsequently bought a 
farm of 160 acres in section 19 of Champaign Township. For upwards 
of half a century he gave diligent attention to its cultivation and improve- 
ment and he died there October 28, 1911. His wife passed away May 4, 
1909. They had a large family of thirteen children, Thomas being the 
oldest. The others are: Mary A., at home; Margaret, wife of James 
Mooney, of North Dakota; Julia F., wife of Bernard Flaharty, of Bis- 
marck, Illinois ; John P., of Eankin, Illinois ; William S., whose home is at 
Bondville in this county; Peter, of North Dakota; Catherine, who died in 
August, 1916; Walter, still at home; Ignatius, of Gerald, Illinois; 
Lucinda, a teacher at Ivesdale, this county; Arthur at home; Marcella B., 
attending the Longwood Academy in Chicago. 

Thomas J. Early grew up on the farm where he still resides, attended 
the public schools, and is now renting the farm from the other heirs and 
is devoting it to the general crops and to the live stock industry. His 
father was a member of the school board in this district for twenty years. 
Mr. Early is affiliated with the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Catholic 
Knights of America, and his church affiliation is with the Holy Cross 
Catholic Church of Champaign. 

A. A. ARMS, now living retired at Thomasboro, has truly lived the 
strenuous life. He has entered heartily into all the experiences that come 
to the farmer in a new country and after subduing his own acres and 
acquiring the fatness of the land he was not content to settle down into a 
life of studied ease, but has sought adventure and knowledge far afield. 
Mr. Arms is without doubt the best known hunter in Champaign County. 
He has the riches of trophies gained from the chase sufficient to stock a 
museum. He has traveled to many remote fastnesses of the wild game and 
knows the haunts and character of wild animals from the standpoint of the 
naturalist as well as the hunter. 



984 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. Arms comes of pioneer stock. He is a son of Orrin and Cynthia A. 
(Hubbard) Arms. His grandfather Hubbard spent his early life at Shef- 
field, Massachusetts, and soon after Indiana was admitted to statehood, 
which occurred in the year 1818, he migrated to this far western country 
and settled at the highest point then occupied by a white resident on the 
Wabash Eiver at the mouth of the Vermilion. He arrived in the spring 
and his nearest neighbor, excepting Indians, was a white family ten miles 
below who arrived in the following November. In that frontier district 
he began making a home, and he went three miles from his cabin to break 
up land for his first corn crop in what was known as Meed Prairie. 

Orrin Arms was born near Montpelier, Vermont, son of Jesse Arms. 
Orrin Arms moved to Attica, Indiana, and his first deed to land there was 
dated 1828. He died June 5, 1885, on the same place where he had located 
in 1828. While a cabinetmaker by trade, he spent most of his active career 
as a farmer. Orrin Arms and wife had the following children:' Mrs. 
Lucetta Paine, living at Wabash, Indiana; Solon H., who was born in 
1833 and lived at Attica, Indiana; Azro A.; Laura A., who married John 
Dungan and died at Boswell, Indiana; and Ira. Cynthia Arms died at 
Attica,- Indiana, and Orrin Arms married for his second wife Elizabeth 
Stephens. Their children were named Amanda, Cynthia and Charles. 
All these children received their preliminary advantages in one of the log 
cabin district schools of Indiana. 

On January 18, 1856, A. A. Arms and his brother Solon arrived in 
Champaign County, Illinois. Mr. Arms has been a resident of Eantoul 
Township since April 5, 1866. The two brothers bought 320 'acres, com- 
prising the west half of section 13, township 21, range 9, in the third 
principal meridian. The brothers were in partnership in this land deal 
and their deed to the land was signed by President Franklin Pierce. The 
purchase price was $2.50 an acre. The same land is now worth $250 an 
acre, an increase fully a hundredfold. Mr. Arms lived there sixteen years. 

He married Elizabeth Stockdale, a daughter of Hugh and Harriet 
Stockdale, the former a native of England and the latter of Castlemahone, 
Ireland. In the Stockdale family 'were the following children: Mary J., 
Harriet, William, Eugena, Joseph, Elizabeth, Arabella, Grace, Jessie and 
Mabel. Hugh Stockdale was a boot and shoe dealer. In March, 1861, he 
bi ought his family to America, lived a time in Pennsylvania and from 
there came to Illinois. 

After their marriage Mr. A. A. Arms and wife started out to build a 
home and fortune for themselves. They bought land and by application 
of the principles of industry and economy their labors have met with 
pleasing success. Mr. Arms has proved a vigorous farmer and has exer- 
cised great wisdom in his investments. At the present time his holdings 
as a real estate man include 5,409 acres, scattered over the states of Illinois, 
Indiana, Arkansas and Texas, and peopled by an industrious, contented 
tenantry, all working harmoniously for mutual interests, and who unani- 
mously pronounce him the prince of landlords. 

Mr. Arms believes that his success in life has been 1 due to the rigid 
adherence to three cardinal principles. The first is that the primary law 
of nature is self-preservation ; the second is care of health ; and the third 
is an admonition to take care of wealth, including home and possessions, 
liberty and family. Some years ago Mr. Arms removed to Thomasboro, 
and established himself in one of the most beautiful and commodious 
homes of that village. 

Mr. Arms has a truly mechanical genius. In many ways he has sought 
to lighten the burden of farm management and farm labor. On his place 
he has installed an electric motor which serves to pump the water for house 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 985 

and barn, shell the corn in one hopper and grind in another, runs the 
washing machine, and the power thus derived is in fact employed for 
nearly everything except milking the cows. Mr. Arms has also used con- 
crete to advantage in many ways, including the building of walks, cement 
floors and large drinking troughs for his cattle. He is one of the farmers 
in Champaign County who have cement floors in the barns. 

At his Thomasboro home Mr. Arms has almost innumerable trophies, 
and among other things a sportsman's cabinet which contains almost an 
arsenal of firearms. He has some examples of the old flintlock guns and 
from that the collection ranges to the most modern repeating rifles and 
shotguns, including the Winchester and Savage makes. Some years ago 
he won in a shooting match a fine double-barreled Parker Brothers Meredith 
gun valued at $80, and has used it frequently in his sporting expeditions. 
For twenty-two winters out of the past twenty-five Mr. Arms has been 
in Texas, Louisiana and Florida, in the remote and wild districts of those 
states on big hunting expeditions. One of the trophies in his home is a 
mounted deer head which he secured in LaSalle County, Texas. His hunt- 
ing companion in Texas is J. W. Buckow and together they have killed 
over 200 deer. The favorite gun with which he hunts big game is a 
Marlin rifle. Mr. Arms is not content with the ordinary sights found on 
the best of guns, and he makes his own, and they are better and truer than 
any found on the market. A hunter of no mean reputation himself, 
Mr. Arms has always been an admirer of the great Americans who have 
been similarly famed. In his library he possesses and has read through 
from cover to cover the lives of such American hunters and frontiersmen 
as Wild Bill, Kit Carson, William Drannan, Texas Jack, California Joe, 
Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) and Theodore Eoosevelt. 

In his hunter's museum Mr. Arms has a beautiful seven-foot diamond 
rattler skin. The snake was shot by his brother Ira in the latter's door- 
yard in Florida. Another curio is a rich brown necktie made from a 
brown rattler skin, with the rattlers for pins. Other specimens include 
an armadillo, a sawfish killed in Texas, a number of articles from the noted 
San Pedro Park at San Antonio, a Texas leopard cat, an ant-eater, civet 
cat and many other rare animals. In 1874 Mr. Arms participated in a 
buffalo hunt. That was only a few years before those vast herds of bison 
were practically exterminated from the American prairies. In that hunt 
he killed four buffalo and has the horns and robes in his home. There is 
an alligator skin from an animal seven feet long, numerous beards of 
wild turkey, the tusks of the wild hog known as the peccary, the tusks of 
wild boars, sea beans from the Gulf of Mexico, any -number of Indian 
arrowheads and samples of Mexican onyx. There is a cane made of Texas 
ebony. Two of the firearms are the old-fashioned muzzle-loading rifles 
with which the early American hunters killed the antelope and buffalo. 

Mr. and Mrs. Arms are connoisseurs of Japanese art. In their parlor 
stands a vase 3!/o feet tall with a pictured illustration of Japan's bravest 
generals and their wives, and containing the history of that country 
dating back for 500 years. The parlor is completely furnished in costly 
Japanese wares. Much of it is made of the famous Anoka, richly carved 
with dragons, the emblems of Japan. The 1 chairs contain carvings of 
dragonheads, each holding between its jaws an apple, this being a symbolic 
representation of the old story of the temptation of Eve. On the wall of 
the parlor hangs a piece of Japanese royal tapestry. Worked in the design 
are two large white swans, a body of water surrounded with a grove of 
evergreens. The tapestry is made of the finest of silk, and it is a rich 
and handsome piece of artistic embroidery. 

Any exposition would set a high value upon such a collection of 



986 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

souvenirs and trophies as is possessed and cherished by Mr. and Mrs. Arms. 
It requires a long examination to really understand how widely Mr. Arms 
has sought wild game and how well justified his fame as a Nimrod is. 
Mr. Arms has spent many happy vacations on Texas ranches, especially 
the ranch of his friend and comrade, Jim Dougherty. He has in his col- 
lection a photograph of a real Texas longhorn, once owned by Dougherty. 
From tip to tip these horns measured 9 feet 2 inches. 

In politics Mr. Arms has been first and always a stanch supporter of 
the principles of the Republican party. He cast his first vote for Abraham 
Lincoln and has been voting the ticket regularly ever since. He has been 
affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for the last forty- 
eight years, having joined that order before he was married. Mr. and 
Mrs. Arms have lived in close affiliation with the best interests of Cham- 
paign County. This county they have witnessed transformed under their 
very eyes from a rude and little productive community into what is now 
one of the richest farming sections in the entire world. Mr. Arms voted 
for and did all he could to secure the University of Illinois for this county 
and has lent a similar support to every other progressive movement. His 
wife is an active member of the Episcopal Church at Rantoul. 

Mr. Arms has long been a successful stock raiser and his herds of 
Holstein, Red Poll and Shorthorns have long been noted. 

Mrs. Arms has enjoyed frequent trips with her husband and is a con- 
genial comrade and completely in sympathy with his outdoor sports and 
recreations. She received her education in the Rantoul High School, fin- 
ishing at Champaign, and prior to her marriage was a successful teacher 
in this county. Mrs. Arms is a cultured woman, of striking appearance, 
broad minded, an entertaining conversationalist and is a splendid type of 
the true American woman. 

CHARLES F. WENDLING'S farm enterprise is identified with the south- 
eastern part of Champaign County, in Raymond Township. His fine farm 
home is situated in section 10, on Rural Route No. 36 out of the town of 
Broadlands. 

Mr. Wendling has been a man of affairs in this community for the 
greater part of his life. He was born in Sangamon County, Illinois, 
December 15, 1874, a son of John and Margaret (Monigan) Wendling. 
His father was a native of Alsace, France, and his mother of Ireland. The 
father was born in 1842, came to America in 1854, at the age of twelve, 
lived first in Macon County, Illinois, and later in Sangamon County, and 
in his early years, a young man with no capital, he did cattle feeding and 
farming. In 1876 he came to Champaign County, locating in Raymond 
Township, where he was successfully identified with the business of farming 
until his death in October, 1916. His wife also passed away on the old 
homestead in that township. They were the parents of six children, three 
of whom died in infancy. Annie is still at the home place and the mother 
of two children, named Roy and Ethel. The second in age is Charles F. 
The daughter Mary is also at home. 

Charles F. Wendling acquired his education in the district schools of 
Champaign County and at the age of nineteen went to work on a farm, 
hiring out his labor for three years. He then rented a place of eighty 
acres, and subsequently one of 160 acres, and at his father's death he took 
charge of the 180 acres comprising the fine farm in section 10 of Raymond 
Township. Here he followed general farming and stock raising and his 
work is marked by distinctive success. 

February 5, 1902, Mr. Wendling married Bertha Vaden, who was born 
at Sidney, Illinois, daughter of William A. and Sarah Elizabeth (Hughes) 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 987 

Vaden. Her father was born in North Carolina and her mother in Vir- 
ginia. The Vaden family came to Champaign County in 1865. Mrs. 
Wendling's father is an attorney by profession and is now living at Pensa- 
cola, Florida, at the age of eighty-one. Her mother died in December, 
1901. Mrs. Wendling was the youngest in a family of three children. 
Her sister Laura is the widow of Isaac Palmer. Her sister Mary is the 
wife of Thomas Peake of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Wend- 
ling have two children : Eoy Vaden, born July 7, 1910 ; and Mary Virginia, 
born March 22, 1914. In his political support Mr. Wendling is a Demo- 
crat. 

LEWIS PRATHER has been a resident of Champaign County for many 
years. He has been one of the live and energetic business men and 
farmers of the community, though he was well educated for the law. Suc- 
cessful in business, he has not neglected the public welfare and is a man 
who can be depended upon for helpful support wherever the best interests 
of his home community are concerned. 

Mr. Prather was born in Cumberland County, Illinois, April 20, 1862. 
His parents were James and Delilah (White) Prather, his father a native 
of Indiana and his mother of Illinois. The mother died in May, 1901, 
and the last five years of his life the father spent with his son Lewis and 
died March 10, 1906. He was an active farmer and developed and 
improved a good estate in Cumberland County. There were nine children 
in the family: Nettie, wife of William McGinnis, of Kansas; Lewis; 
Mamie and John, both deceased; Bartholomew, of Ludlow, Illinois; 
Josephine, deceased; Dollie, wife of Benjamin Neal, of Toledo, Illinois; 
Adolphus, of Champaign; and the youngest, a son, died in infancy. 

Lewis Prather was educated in the district schools of Cumberland 
County and spent three years in Valparaiso University in Indiana. He 
was graduated in the law course in 1893. Instead of taking up the legal 
profession he taught school twelve years, three years in Cumberland 
County and nine years in Champaign County. In 1897 he married and 
soon afterwards bought the interests of the other heirs in the old home- 
stead. Mr. Prather lias under his management a farm of 177 acres in 
section 23 of Urbana Township. This he has profitably devoted to grain 
and stock farming, and he is making the place pay good dividends both 
on the capital invested and for labor and management. 

Mr. Prather married Lula Werts, a daughter of Jesse and Mary 
(Schlosser) Werts, both natives of Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Prather 
have two children: Dewey and Jesse, both at home. Mr. Prather is now 
serving as school director, has been drainage commissioner and was the 
only township assessor elected in his home township on the Democratic 
ticket since the Civil War. He and his family are attendants of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Their home receives daily mail delivery 
over Rural Route No. 12 out of Urbana. 

BERT E. LYNCH has made his career one of fruitful endeavor amid the 
scenes and associations of his early childhood and youth. He is leading 
a very active and enterprising life as a farmer in Sidney Township, and has 
a well-ordered farm and good country home on Rural Route No. 57. 

Mr. Lynch was born in section 14 of Sidney Township, March 17, 1870, 
a son of William F. and Cynthia E. (Lunger) Lynch, both of whom were 
natives of Indiana. His father came to Champaign County in the fall of 
1862 and located his cabin home on section 14 of Sidney Township. In the 
course of years he converted a large section of prairie land into fertile 
fields, and spent his last years with ample comforts after making a generous 



988 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

provision for those dependent upon his labors. He and his wife are now 
deceased, his death occurring September 3, 1902. They had five children: 
Greeley I., living in southwest Missouri; Ida M., wife of Camuel Stewart 
of Philo, Champaign County; Emma of Sidney; Bert E. ; and Etta of 
Sullivan, Illinois. 

Bert E. Lynch remained a factor at the homestead until he was twenty- 
one and in the meantime secured a substantial education from the district 
schools. He had become a farmer on his own account before reaching his 
majority and has gone steadily ahead in this vocation until he now con- 
trols the operation of 180 acres and is individual owner of 125 acres. 

December 24, 1891, Mr. Lynch married Ida Belle Brown of Homer, 
Illinois. Three children were born to them : William Ealph, who died at 
the age of eighteen months ; Opal J. and Arthur Dean, both at home. Mr. 
Lynch is a Eepublican, is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a 
member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his family worship 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

HOWABD WISEGARVER. Profitable farming depends upon a number of 
essential things. First, perhaps, there must be good soil, incidentally the 
climate has much to do with it, and transportation facilities have to be 
considered, but last and by no means least, is the farmer himself. In 
modern days the farmer is a man not only of industry but also of a great 
deal of knowledge and the more experience he can call to his aid the 
more chance has he of being able to make every inch of his domain return 
him a profit. Judging by the success that has attended his agricultural 
efforts, Howard Wisegarver, one of Champaign Township's most respected 
citizens, is also one of her best farmers. 

Howard Wisegarver was born August 31, 1873, in Champaign Town- 
ship, Champaign County, Illinois, and is a son of William H. and Myra 
(Hetrick) Wisegarver. They were both born in Bedford County, Pennsyl- 
vania, and were reared, educated and married there. The father came to 
Illinois in 1869 and his wife came in 1872. He settled first in DeWitt 
County but afterward purchased 160 acres in Section 35, Champaign 
Township, Champaign County. Here he carried c/n general farming and 
stock-raising and this continued his home until the time of his death, May 
30, 1913. He left a fine, well improved property. To his marriage with 
Myra Hetrick, who survives and lives with her eldest son, there were three 
children born, namely: Howard, Mary and William H. Mary died in 
infancy. 

Howard Wisegarver attended the public schools in Champaign Town- 
ship, thereby securing a good, solid common school education, which is 
an admirable foundation upon which to build in carrying on any business. 
He remained at home and helped his father until 1901, after which he 
farmed for himself on a rented tract of eighty-five acres and for three 
years more carried on farming operations on a still larger tract, having 
100 acres to manage. In the meanwhile his attention had been called 
to the great opportunities offered settlers in San Luis Valley, Colorado, 
and becoming interested he decided to go out there and prospect a little, 
which resulted in his purchasing eighty acres in San Luis Valley and 
Conejos County, Colorado, and he spent the next four years there. Mr. 
Wisegarver . returned then to Champaign County, his father having died 
in the meanwhile, and took charge of the home farm and has remained 
here ever since. He carries on general farming and stockraising and has 
the reputation of being one of the most successful agriculturists in the 
county. 

Mr. Wisegarver was married May 1, 1901, to Miss Mary Rea, who was 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 989 

born in the State of Ohio and died in Conejos County, Colorado, in Febru- 
ary, 1908. In January, 1914, Mr. Wisegarver was married to Miss Minnie 
Emig, who was born in Piatt County, Illinois. They are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church and are not only attendants, but active 
workers and dependable contributors. In politics Mr. Wisegarver has 
never been unduly active and maintains an independent attitude, casting 
his vote according to his own excellent judgment. 

HENRY J. F. EDENS. One of the younger men carrying the response 
bilities of agricultural management in Raymond Township is Henry J. F. 
Edens, son of parents who were pioneers in this county, and he is now 
cultivating one of the best farms of Raymond Township. 

Mr. Edens was born on the old farm in section 10 of Raymond Town- 
ship, February 22, 1885. His parents, Peter and Mary (Kant) Edens, 
were both natives of Germany. His father on coming to America located 
in Champaign County, near Sidney, and from there moved to the home- 
stead in Raymond Township. Though he began life with comparatively 
nothing, he prospered by his steady industry and is now owner of 400 acres 
of the rich and fertile acres of Champaign County. He and his wife are 
living retired in Urbana. They had only two children, Alvina and Henry. 
Alvina is the wife of Fred J. Mohr of Raymond Township. 

Henry J. F. Edens grew up on his father's farm, gained his instruction 
in the local district schools, and from an early youth was disciplined to 
handle the plow and do the other work of the farm. For several years he 
managed his father's entire place, and then took charge of 240 acres, which 
he cultivates as a general farming and stock raising proposition. 

On February 5, 1913, Mr. Edens married Mary A. Etter, who was 
born in Champaign County, daughter of Conrad and Anna (Mumm) Etter. 
Her parents are now living at Philo. Mr. and Mrs. Edens are members 
of the Lutheran Church at Philo, and their home is on Rural Route No. 36 
out of Broadlands. 

HERMAN H. BUHS. Urbana Township, Champaign County, offers 
many examples of successful farming and no one could overlook, in this 
connection, the many richly cultivated acres that belong to the old Buhs 
homestead, 160 of which are under the direct care of Herman H. Buhs, 
one of the township's most highly respected citizens. 

Herman H. Buhs was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, August 25, 1872. 
His parents are John. C. and Fredricka (Albright) Buhs. The father, 
who is now one of Champaign County's men of wealth and the owner of 
480 acres of valuable land, was born in 1847, in Germany, and came to 
America at the age of nineteen years with his widowed mother. He has 
been a very industrious man wherever he has lived, and also a dependable 
man, so that now his advice on agricultural matters is often sought by his 
neighbors, who have found it sensible and worth taking. He was married 
in Ohio to Fredericka Albright, and they have three sons and one daughter : 
Frank C., Herman H., Edward E. and Anna Fredericka, who is the wife 
of John Krumm, and they have a daughter. 

Herman H. Buhs was brought up on a farm and his knowledge of 
agricultural affairs is solid and practical. He obtained his education in 
the public schools and has always lived on the home farm, a part of 
which, as noted above, he is now working. He keeps well posted on all 
matters relating to general farming and stockraising and is numbered 
with the best informed and most successful agriculturists in Urbana Town- 
ship. He owns some first-class agricultural machinery. 

Mr. Buhs was married November 22, 1905, to Miss Sophie Wolfley, 

230 



990 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

who was a popular young lady of this neighborhood but a native of 
Indiana, and they have had six children, two of whom, Clarence, the 
second born, and Mildred, the fifth in order of birth, are deceased. The 
others are: Edward W., Herman H., Charles J. and Vilma Katherine. 
They will all have public school advantages, as their father believes in 
public education and at present is serving as a member of the township 
school board. He belongs to the German Lutheran Church, in which faith 
he was reared by devout parents. In his political views he is a Democrat 
and gives a hearty support to the candidates of that party. 

JOHN C. BUHS. One of the sound, substantial men and successful 
general farmers and stockraisers of Champaign County is found in John 
C. Buhs, who is located in section 33, Urbana Township. Mr. Buhs is 
one of the heavy landowners of this section and his finely improved farm 
extends also into sections 34 and 21, all in Urbana Township. 

John C. Buhs was born in the village of Baritz, in the province of 
Mecklenburg, Germany, September 11, 1847. His parents were Carl 
and Fredricka (Eaforth) Buhs. His father died in Germany and the 
mother continued to live there until John C., her only child, was nineteen 
years of age. She was a wise and far-seeing woman and not only con- 
sented when he proposed seeking better opportunities in America, but 
agreed to accompany him. They reached the United States safely and 
found a home to please them in Fairfiekl County, Ohio. There John C. 
Buhs engaged in farming and continued until the spring of 1876. In 
the meanwhile, on September 23, 1870, Mr. Buhs was married to Fred- 
ricka Albright, and on March 10, 1876, they came to Champaign County, 
Illinois, and lived at Philo until the fall of 1887, Mr. Buhs all the time 
keeping himself employed in agricultural pursuits. 

In 1893 Mr. Buhs bought 240 acres of land in Urbana Township and 
since then has kept adding to his possessions until he now has 480 acres, 
all finely cultivated and well improved. Mr. Buhs devotes this large 
body of land to crop raising and to stockraising, finding a ready market 
for all his land can be made to yield. He has always set an example of 
industry and his large amount of property has been acquired in the way 
of hard work. 

Mr. and Mrs. Buhs have four children, namely: Frank C., who is his 
father's right hand man on the home farm ; Herman H., who is a farmer 
in Urbana Township ; Edward E., who resides at home ; and Anna Fred- 
ricka, who is the wife of John Krumm, and they have a little four-year 
old daughter named Marie. Mr. Buhs and his family belong to the 
German Lutheran Church. He belongs to no political party but, never- 
theless, always casts his vote, and it is for a candidate who has won his 
approval because of his honesty and his fearlessless in doing the will of the 
people. As for himself, Mr. Buhs has never accepted any public office, 
finding his time sufficiently occupied in looking after his own affairs. He 
is known all over the county and is everywhere respected. 

PARK T. IRWIN. Ever since the early '70s the name of Irwin has 
stood for agricultural and commercial integrity and good citizenship in 
Champaign County, for faithful performance of duty in peace or war, 
and for helpful support of progressive measures. Particularly is this true 
in the community of Longview, a town which was laid out by James W. 
Irwin, father of Park T. Irwin, the latter one of the representative young 
business men of this place. Park T. Irwin was born at Longview, July 13, 
1881. his parents being James W. and Margaret (Fisher) Irwin. 

James W. Irwin was born in Ohio, and during the early '70s came to 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 991 

Champaign County. At that time he was a veteran of the Civil War, 
having enlisted in his native state in the Seventeenth Regiment, Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, at the outbreak of hostilities, and subsequently being 
connected with the heavy artillery. He served three years and three 
months in the Union army, taking part in numerous important battles, 
and on one occasion being captured by the enemy but subsequently paroled, - 
and had a fine record as a soldier. On coming to Champaign County he 
secured land and engaged in farming, accumulating 200 acres, on which 
was later laid out the present town of Longview, the founders of which were 
Mr. Irwin and J. W. Churchill. Mr. Irwin was a man of excellent judg- 
ment, and his foresight enabled him to choose for his location a property 
which would later be in a position to attract settlement and business enter- 
prises. He is now retired from active pursuits and makes his home at 
Longview. He has never lost his interest in his old army comrades, and is 
still a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and one of the most 
popular comrades of his post. In Masonry he has attained a high position, 
having reached the thirty-second degree. Mrs. Irwin, who was a native of 
Pennsylvania, died in 1899, having been the mother of the following chil- 
dren : Corda, who is deceased ; Paul F., a resident of Chicago ; Blanche B., 
the wife of Charles H. Watts of Urbana, county superintendent of schools ; 
Claude G., a resident of Omaha, Nebraska ; Park T. ; and Daisy D., the 
wife of George E. Bronson, a division city engineer of Chicago. 

After attending the country schools of Champaign County and the 
public schools of Longview, Park T. Irwin spent three years at Westfield 
College, and at the age of twenty-one years entered upon his commercial 
career as proprietor of a grocery business at Westfield. He was successful 
in this venture, but after two years was compelled to dispose of his interests 
because of failing health, and for the next year traveled to various points. 
Returning to Longview, he embarked in the grain business, and to this 
enterprise has since given his attention, having built up an excellent trade 
at Longview and in the surrounding territory. Mr. Irwin is a young man 
of push and enterprise and has inherited much of his father's business 
acumen, while the integrity which he has shown in his business operations 
has gained him a name for probity in commercial circles. He is a Repub- 
lican, although not active in politics, and his fraternal connection is with 
the Modern Woodmen of America, in which order he has numerous friends. 

Mr. Irwin was married May 26, 1907, to Miss Emma White of West- 
field, Illinois, and they have three children : Frances, born July 20, 1911 ; 
Margaret, born August 29, 1913; and Elizabeth, born January 15, 1915. 
Mr. and Mrs. Irwin are members of the Presbyterian Church. 

RUFUS B. HOY. A resident of Champaign County almost forty years, 
Rufus B. Hoy after a brief visit determined that this county should be 
his permanent home, and here his industry has borne fruit and his name 
is one that is spoken with honor and respect. 

Mr. Hoy was born in Hancock County, Ohio, November 6, 1850, son 
of Abraham and Mary (Fellers) Hoy. His father was a native of Penn- 
sylvania and his mother of Ohio and both their ancestors several genera- 
tions back came from Germany. Abraham Hoy and wife had twelve 
children, six sons and six daughters, Rufus being the youngest son. These 
children were educated in a district school known as the Hoy School, sit- 
uated on a corner of their father's farm back in Ohio. 

Rufus B. Hoy when twenty-eight years of age came to Illinois for the 
purpose of working one summer on the farm of his brother Abraham, 
located east of Urbana and known as the old Cook farm. The country 
and its people had a special charm for the young man and he prolonged 



992 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

his visit indefinitely. He worked on various farms in the county, and at 
the age of thirty he laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage 
to Miss Martha J. Arlington. 

Mrs. Hoy, who has stood beside her husband in all his work and in the 
ordering of her home and the training of her children for the past thirty- 
five years, was born in Hancock County, Indiana, daughter of Samuel and 
Matilda (McDuffey) Arrington. Her parents were natives of North Caro- 
lina and were early settlers in Indiana, whither they went with their only 
child. Their other children were all born in Indiana. The McDuffey 
ancestry originated in the land of hills and heather, Scotland. The six 
children of the Arringtons comprised four daughters and two sons, both 
sons dying in infancy. Martha was the youngest daughter and the only 
one still living. She was educated with her sisters in the Wright district 
school. In 1860 the Arrington family moved to Champaign County and 
settled near Mayview. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hoy after their marriage began farming on rented land 
a mile and a half south of Mayview. Possessing youth, enthusiasm, energy 
and ambition, they made each year count for something definite in their 
scheme of life and in the matter of progress, and in the course of time 
were able to buy out the other heirs of the Arrington estate, and while they 
lived there they added many improvements to that beautiful farm. They 
now have 340 acres in Illinois and 640 in Missouri. 

Two sons and three daughters were born to their marriage, named 
Jesse F., Bertha M., Gertrude May, Fred and Lucy F. These children 
were well educated both at home and in the district school known as the 
Willard School. Bertha graduated from Brown's Business College at Cham- 
paign, fitted herself for work as a teacher and taught in the College Corner 
School and the Kirkpatrick School. She is now the wife of A. N. Duvall, 
and they live in Rantoul, where Mr. L(uvall is a postal employe. Their 
one child is named Gladys Bernice. Gertrude, the second daughter, was 
educated in the University of Illinois at Champaign and was a teacher of 
public schools in Champaign County. She taught the Allen and York 
schools, spending two years at each place. She married Earl Swartz, and 
they live at Matthews, in New Madrid County, Missouri, where he is a 
grain dealer. Fred is a farmer on his father's place at Mayview. He 
married Opal Lockwood, and of their two children one died in infancy, 
the one still living being Marjorie. Jesse, also a farmer on one of his 
father's places south of Mayview, married Mary Brooks and has a daugh- 
ter, Lavinia. Lucy F. graduated from the Urbana High School and took 
the full college course in the University of Illinois. She is a cultured and 
capable young woman, still at home with her parents. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hoy have always been interested in every work for the 
upbuilding of the social and religious community in which they have lived. 
Early in life he accepted the doctrines and principles of the great Repub- 
lican party and has found that organization most expressive of his mature 
convictions and experience in the regulation of political affairs. He is an 
ardent Mason, having joined that order back in Ohio when a young man 
and is a charter member of the Court of Honor. 

Thirteen years ago, having seen their efforts duly rewarded, Mr. and 
Mrs. Hoy left their farm and came to Urbana, where he bought a pleasant 
and attractive residence on Elm Street. Here this worthy couple have 
surrounded themselves with the comforts of life and live in the enjoyment 
of their family and their numerous friends. 

Such people as Mr. and Mrs. Hoy are counted among the builders of a 
county, always interested in every good work for the promotion of the 
good of the community socially and religiously. Converted in early life, 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 993 

in 1891, they both took their place in the home church at Mayview, the 
Methodist Episcopal, as earnest, conscientious members, and have found 
their deepest source of joy in working in the interests of the Man of 
Galilee. The day of their conversion was a milestone in their lives and 
they always pleasantly refer to that time which with devout Christians is 
the day of all days. This decision came early in their lives, and has 
influenced and regulated all their subsequent actions and has proved 
fruitful in deeds of kindness so that the name Hoy is wreathed with 
pleasing memories. On moving to Urbana Mr. and Mrs. Hoy united with 
the Methodist Church there and have been liberal supporters of its every 
cause, and Mr. Hoy is now serving as a church steward. 

JAMES A. WILSON. Some of the finest and best cultivated farms of 
Champaign County are located in the southern townships and among these 
it is no disparagement of the efforts of others to mention the fine place of 
James A. Wilson in Raymond Township. Mr. Wilson is a practical and 
progressive farmer and owns and occupies a part of the land which the 
Wilson family have cultivated for fully half a century. 

Mr. Wilson was born near Ridge Farm in Vermilion County, Illinois, 
April 29, 1859, but has lived in Champaign County since early childhood. 
His parents, William and Martha (Fulton) Wilson, were both natives of 
Ireland. His father on coming to America followed teaching in the 
schools of Ohio and a similar occupation after locating in Vermilion County, 
Illinois. In 1866 he came to Champaign County and began life as a 
farmer on section 9 of Raymond Township, where as a result of his well- 
timed industry he built up an estate of 240 acres. On that old farm he 
passed away October 18, 1874, leaving ample material possessions and an 
honored name to his descendants. His wife died there February 3, 1894. 
They had nine children : George of Long View ; Maria, deceased ; William 
of Mount Vernon, Illinois; Thomas of Raymond Township; John and 
Henry, twins, both deceased ; Martha Jane, who died in 1883 ; Sarah Mary, 
deceased; and James A. 

Nearly all the experiences of James A. Wilson, whether as a child or 
as a mature man, center around section 9 of Raymond Township. He grew 
up there and besides the district schools he attended the Champaign High 
School, from which he was graduated in 1883: For two terms he taught in 
his home township, and after his marriage he took charge of the home 
place. When the estate was divided he received 160 acres, and has grad- 
ually enlarged this as his farming business has grown, first buying eighty 
acres in section 10 and later buying another eighty acres of the homestead. 
Thus he has under his control a full half section, and the bountiful crops 
of his fields and the splendid improvements and equipment testify to his 
efficiency as a farmer without recourse to other descriptions. 

On January 22, 1887, Mr. Wilson married Rachel Catherine Hughes of 
Bates County, Missouri. They had a happy married life of a little less 
than five years, until her death on February 3, 1892. She was the mother 
of three children : Harriet, who died in infancy ; Frances Gertrude, wife of 
Richard Davis of Raymond Township; and William Walter of Hensley 
Township. On March 22, 1894, Mr. Wilson married for his second wife 
Mary Graham, a native of Hamblen County in East Tennessee. Mr. and 
Mrs. Wilson are the parents of six children: Frederick Roscoe of Edgar 
County, Illinois; Ruth Ellen, wife of Alfred Toppie; Grace Edith, who 
graduated from the Champaign High School in 1917 and is now attending 
the Teachers' Institute in that city ; Ernest, Thomas Graham, and Blanche 
Olive, all at home and attending the local schools. 

Mr. Wilson has done his part as a public-spirited citizen and served 



994 HISTORY OF' CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

two years as assessor and two years as collector. He is a Democrat, a 
member of the Modern Woodmen of America and with his family worships 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church. His fine home is on Rural Route 
No. 58 from Sidney. 

HERMAN M. SMOOT has had a very determined and energetic business 
career at Homer and at the age of forty his prosperity is now assured as 
well as his position as a man of affairs and influence in his community. 

Mr. Smoot was born on a farm in Vermilion County, Illinois, June 19, 
1877. His parents were John and Sarah C. (Lewis) Smoot, the former 
a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. They were brought to 
Illinois when children, and grew up in Vermilion County, where after 
their marriage they lived on a farm in Vance Township. In 1895 John 
Smoot moved to Homer and with Mr. J. Stingle opened a lumber business. 
He remained in that business until 1898, when he was succeeded by his 
son Herman, and he then retired. His death occurred January 4, 1917, 
but his widow is still living in Homer. John Smoot was a member of 
the Masonic Order and of the Episcopal Church. There were five 
children, the two oldest, both sons, dying in infancy. William S. is a 
carpenter by trade and lives in Kansas City, Missouri. The fourth in age 
is Herman M. Bertha E., the only daughter, is the wife of J. Charles 
Franz, of Homer. 

Herman M. Smoot was eighteen years of age when the family left the 
farm and removed to Homer. Up to that time he had attended country 
schools and he then put in a fall and one winter in the high school, 
working out by the day during the rest of the year. The next 
winter he returned to high school and that term was followed by other 
work on the farm at monthly wages. During those two years he saved 
enough to enable him to take the course in Brown's Business College at 
Decatur. Having proved himself a young man of considerable ability and 
active resolution, his father then loaned him his half interest in the lumber 
business, and in a short time he had made good in these responsibilities 
and in 1904 bought out Mr. Stingle and has since bought out two other 
local competitors and now has practically a monopoly of the local lumber 
trade. 

Mr. Smoot married Miss Elizabeth Shaw, who was born at Homer, 
daughter of Dr. Homer C. and Eliza V. (White) Shaw. Mr. and Mrs. 
Smoot have two children: John I., born July 3, 1900; and Catherine E., 
born January 22, 1903. 

Mr. Smoot has done more than carry on a very successful business at 
Homer. He served two terms as mayor, and is now vice president of 
the Champaign County Highway Improvement Association, is president 
of the Community Improvement Association of Homer, and president of 
the local Chautauqua Association. He is a Republican, a member of 
the Modern Woodmen of America, of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and in Masonry is affiliated with the Lodge, 
Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery. He and his family worship 
in the Presbyterian Church. 

PATRICK T. MADIGAK In the erection of a substantial business struc- 
ture in the field of insurance Patrick T. Madigan of Longview, Illinois, was 
able to build upon a foundation formed by a good business education, a 
worth-while and practical training and an inherent ambition. These have 
formed the real concomitants of his success, although combined with them 
have been the accompanying desirable factors of perseverance and natural 
ability. Mr. Madigan was born on a farm in Raymond Township, Cham- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 995 

paign County, Illinois, July 8, 1878, a son of John F. and Katherine 
(Foley) Madigan, natives of Illinois. 

John F. Madigan came to Champaign County in 1874 and took up his 
residence on a farm on section 27, Raymond Township, where for many 
years he carried on successful agricultural operations, developing a good 
property and winning prosperity by industry and good management of his 
investments. He has now retired from active pursuits and is residing 
at Philo, where Mrs. Madigan died September 30, 1911. Mr. Madigan is 
one of the well known citizens of his locality who has the confidence and 
esteem of his fellow men, and while residing on the farm held township 
offices on various occasions. He and his wife were the parents of three 
children : Patrick T. ; Dennis F., born November 21, 1879, and died May 
15, 1899 ; and Josi'e, born in 1882, who is now the wife of Edward O'Neill 
of Philo. 

Patrick T. Madigan was reared on the home farm and received his 
early education in the rural schools. He was prepared for a commercial 
career by a course at the Quincy Business College, and in 1907 left the 
farm and came to Longview, where he has since made his home. On his 
arrival here he accepted a position in the employ of the Indianapolis Grain 
Company, with which he has been identified to the present time. After 
having been at Longview several years, Mr. Madigan began to be interested 
in the insurance business, and subsequently devoted more and more of his 
attention to this line of work, until he is now one of the well known men 
in this field in Champaign County. He represents the Aetna, Phoenix and 
Hartford, all excellent old-line companies, and has built up a large busi- 
ness, having sold some appreciably large policies. He is accounted one 
of the energetic and progressive men of this thriving community and has 
made numerous stanch friends both in and outside of business circles. 

Mr. Madigan was married January 15, 1908, to Miss Helena E. Smith, 
who was born in Edgar County, Illinois, and to this union there have been 
born two children: Paul J., born July 18, 1911; and Katherine Marie, 
born November 21, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Madigan are members of the 
Catholic Church. In politics he is a Democrat, but his connection with 
public affairs is only that of a good citizen who performs his civic duties 
and has no desire for public preferment. 



JAMES H. UMBANHOWAR. It may be cited as proof of the stable 
character of the people of Champaign County that many of the finest 
farms here are owned by direct descendants of the original settlers, and 
the land has never been out of the family since it was secured from the 
government a half century or more ago. The Umbanhowar farm is a 
case in point. Its owner is James H. Umbanhowar, who was born on this 
place, situated in section 17, Homer Township, September 25, 1853. 

The parents of James H. Umbanhowar were Samuel and Julia Anna 
(Spencer) Umbanhowar, the former of whom was born in either Virginia 
or Pennsylvania and the latter in Ohio. They came to Champaign 
County in 1840 and settled on this farm in 1852, a wild tract at that time, 
but favorably situated and well watered. Its choice illustrated the good 
judgment of Samuel Umbanhowar, which has been a characteristic of 
his descendants. During his subsequent nine years of life he worked hard 
to clear and improve his land but he died April 15, 1861, hence much 
of the laborious work fell to his sons. He was survived by his wife until 
August 20, 1876. They were the parents of eight children, as follows : a 
son who died in infancy; Margaret Anna and Mary, both of whom are 
deceased ; Matthew, who is deceased ; Samuel, who is a resident of Hoops- 
ton, Illinois; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Z. T. Moran, of Hartford, 
Nebraska; James H.; and Abigail, who is deceased. 



996 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

James H. Umbanhowar attended the district schools in boyhood when 
he had the chance, but the early death of his father made it necessary for 
him to assume responsibilities while still young, and as soon as possible 
he took over the management of the farm and continued to operate it for 
his mother until her death in 1876. He continued to work the farm and 
his sister Mary kept house for him until her death in 1883. Mr. Umban- 
howar received twenty-four acres as his part of the estate. He now owns 
172 acres of finely improved land, it being the fruits of years of toil and 
self denial, combined with good judgment. The time has come when he 
can rest and for some years he has been retired, his second son being a 
capable and practical farmer and carrying on all the farm industries very 
profitably. 

Mr. Umbanhowar was married February 16, 1888, to Miss Elizabeth 
Hall, who is a daughter of Edward and Sarah (Yeazell) Hall, and they 
have four children, three sons and one daughter: Charles E., a railroad 
man with the Big Four, lives at Indianapolis, Indiana ; Fred S., who rents 
and operates the home farm; Audry 0., who is a member of Battery F, 
Tenth Artillery, United States Army, now stationed at Douglas, Arizona; 
and Julia Anna, who is with her parents. Mr. Umbanhowar and family 
belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a sound 
Eepublican, believing firmly in the principles upon which this organiza- 
tion was founded. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, 
attending lodge at Homer, and for many years has belonged to the Masonic 
fraternity. 

JOHN E. RAYMOND, one of the best known and most active figures in 
the general farming and live stock industry of southern Champaign County, 
is a grandson of the man for whom Raymond Township was named. 

This grandfather was Nathaniel Raymond, a native of Milford, New 
Hampshire. He came to Champaign County in pioneer times, became a 
large land owner, and after taking the lead in having a separate township 
set off from the original Sidney was elected the first supervisor of Raymond 
Township. Nathaniel Raymond married Melissa Stuart, a native of New 
York State, and both of them died in Champaign County and they had five 
children : Josephine, widow of W. S. Maxwell of Bayside, Long Island ; 
Sarah, widow of J. B. Green of Sioux City, Iowa, both Mr. Maxwell and 
Mr. Green having been pioneer merchants of Champaign; John, who lives 
in Girard, Kansas ; Isaac S. ; and Jane, who died in 1884. 

Isaac Stuart Raymond, father of John E., was born in Ohio and came 
to Champaign County with his parents in 1866. He graduated from the 
University of Illinois in the class of 1872 as a civil engineer. He was 
offered a position with the Illinois Central Railway Company, but as his 
father owned a large amount of land his son accepted his advice to stay at 
home and he became a practical farmer. For two years after his marriage 
he taught school, and then began farming and finally accumulated over 600 
acres. In 1884 he bought the old homestead from the rest of the heirs 
and this one place has been in the possession of the Raymond family over 
half a century. Isaac S. Raymond was one of the notable men of Cham- 
paign County. For twenty years he was on the board of supervisors, was 
school trustee of Raymond Township from 1873 until his death, and in 
1892 was elected a trustee of the University of Illinois and served six years. 
He was also president of the Farmers' County Institute for fifteen years 
and took a lead in every progressive movement in matters of agriculture 
or civic improvement. The death of this prominent Champaign County 
citizen occurred July 19, 1915. He married Edith Eaton, a native of 
New Jersey, on October 17, 1875, and she is still living in Raymond Town- 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 997 

ship. Isaac S. Eaymond was a Mason. He and his wife had two chil- 
dren, John E. and Ruth Cleveland, the latter the wife of W. E. Haseltine 
of Berkeley, California. 

John E. Raymond was born at the old homestead in Raymond Township 
in section 8 on November 19, 1876. Most of his life has been spent in 
that community, and he grew up to the well ordered industry of his father's 
farm. In 1899 he completed the agricultural course in the University of 
Illinois, and in 1900 he went abroad with Henry Dunlap and assisted in 
arranging and maintaining the Illinois fruit display at the Paris Exposi- 
tion. The following year he took up farming in connection with his father, 
and has since devoted his efforts to the development of an extensive grain 
and stock farm. 

September 3, 1909, he married Grace M. Lane, a native of Hamilton 
County, Illinois. Mr. Raymond is a Democrat, is a school trustee, a thirty- 
second degree Scottish Rite Mason and is an able and energetic worker for 
anything that concerns the welfare of his community. 

W. H. WOODIN, now living in the village of St. Joseph, has had a very 
active and useful career in Champaign County as a farmer, contractor, busi- 
ness man and public spirited citizen. 

He was born at Catlin, Illinois, a son of Moses and Caroline (Walcott) 
Woodin. His father was born in New York and his mother in Indiana, 
and they were among the pioneers of Champaign County, coming from 
Indiana and locating east of St. Joseph, spending several years at Burr 
Oak Grove. Moses Woodin developed a large business as a farmer. Witlt 
his three sons he carried on an extensive estate. At one time he farmed 
the land where the village of St. Joseph now stands. The last time the 
site of that village was a scene of waving grain the fields were cultivated 
by the Woodin family. His son Ira drove a team helping grade the rail- 
road through St. Joseph. Ira is now a prominent farmer in Southern 
Missouri. When the Woodin family came here most of the country was 
wild, and deer ran over the prairies in large droves. The hunters chased 
them with hounds, and furnished a sport which the little boys greatly 
enjoyed watching. The family of Moses Woodin consisted of six children, 
three sons and three daughters. 

W. H. Woodin grew up in this county, received his education in the 
local schools, and at the age of thirty-four married Sarah J. Sperry. She 
was born north of Urbana, daughter of Elias and Serena Sperry. After 
their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Woodin located in St. Joseph Township and 
for several years he was engaged in farming. About that time the prob- 
lem of drainage became acute and the efforts of individuals and com- 
munities were concentrated upon its solution. Large sums of money 
were invested in digging ditches, and Mr. Woodin and others took up 
ditch contracting. He kept several teams and hired men and built some 
of the largest ditches in the county. He also did contract work when 
the Interurban Railway was constructed through St. Joseph. 

Always a very busy man, Mr. Woodin has at the same time possessed 
that public spirit which causes him to sacrifice some of his private interests 
in order that he may serve the public. He was elected to the office of 
constable and served sixteen years. He was many times called upon to 
perform his official duties in St. Joseph, Stanton and Ogden townships 
and had some trying experiences. He was oftentimes called upon to 
hunt down hardened criminals and arrest them. The most unpleasant 
task he ever had to perform was when a warrant was placed in his hands 
to arrest a woman. Mr. Woodin confesses that he would rather arrest 
five men than one woman. A woman invariably breaks down and cries, 



998 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

and he would rather confront physical violence than tears. At the present 
time Mr. Woodin is serving as assessor of St. Joseph Township. Three 
children were born to him and his wife, one son and two daughters, 
Lester, Isa and Maud. They were educated in the public schools of St. 
Joseph Township. Maud obtained a first grade teacher's certificate and 
did some very successful work in the schools of Champaign County, 
teaching in the Argo, South Mayview and Tipton schools. She was much 
beloved personally and for the sake of her work. It is an old saying that 
death loves a shining mark, and this girl proved the truth of the rule when 
she was taken away at the age of twenty-two. She was an honored and 
active member of the Christian Church at St. Joseph. Everything was 
done by her parents to effect her recovery, but with no avail. 

Before her death the Woodin family had been visited by the death 
angel, when Mrs. Woodin entered into rest. She was a loving wife and 
mother and a kind neighbor, and many grateful memories wreath her 
name. 

Since the death of his wife Mr. Woodin has continued to live at the 
old home with his children and since his daughter's death Isa has been 
his housekeeper. The Woodin family are attendants at the Christian 
Church, and Miss Isa is one of its active members. 

Fraternally Mr. Woodin is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias 
Lodge and the only charter member of that order living in the village of 
St. Joseph. He is also a member of the Woodmen Order. In matters 
of politics he is a stanch Republican, having cast his first vote for that 
party and has never experienced a change of heart nor has he found a 
solid reason why he should deviate from the support of an organization 
which has done so much to maintain the integrity of this country. 

JOHN CARL WEGENG has the good fortune to call Champaign County 
his home from birth to the present time, and his life's activities have been 
chiefly expressed through the business of farming, in which he has made 
a notable success. Mr. Wegeng's home is in Raymond Township, near 
the village of Bongard. 

Mr. Wegeng was born in Raymond Township, July 25, 1868, a son of 
John jind Margaret Wegeng. His parents were both natives of Germany 
and they came to America a few weeks before their son John C. was born. 
They located in Raymond Township, where the father became a prosper- 
ous farmer and at the time of his death, on December 22, 1898, owned a 
half section, or 320 acres of land. He also served as school director and 
was a man of importance in the community in many ways. His widow is 
still living at Villa Grove, Illinois. They had the following children: 
Bertha, wife of Pat Mooney of Crittenden Township of this county; 
Phoebe, wife of John Beatty of Raymond Township; John C. ; Francis of 
Villa Grove ; Simon, who lives on the old homestead ; Philip of Champaign ; 
Emma, wife of Henry Mooney of Champaign; Annie, deceased; Martha, 
wife of Roy Sheppard of Pesotum; and Katherine, a resident of Villa 
Grove. The father by a previous marriage to a Miss Richter had two sons, 
Otto, deceased, and August, a resident of southern Missouri. 

John C. Wegeng grew up on his father's farm in Champaign County 
and was educated in the district schools. At the age of twenty-one he 
began working as a farm hand, continuing for two years, and his father 
then bought a tract of 160 acres in section 18 of Raymond Township. Mr. 
Wegeng did his part in developing this land for about three years and 
then rented a portion of the homestead for five years. At the age of twenty- 
nine Mr. Wegeng married, and at his father's death he bought eighty acres 
of the old homestead, later another eighty acres, and the last addition to 



RESIDENCE OF GEORGE X. LEAS 



WILLIAM C. LEAS 




GEORGE X. LEAS AXD FAMILY 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 999 

his landed property came when Eli Chapman willed him eighty acres. 
All of this has been highly developed and improved and under Mr. Weg- 
eng's capable direction it is one of the most productive farms in the 
southern part of Champaign County. 

June 4, 1896, he married Margaret Fitzgerald. They are the parents 
of a fine family of eight children : John T., Pearl M., Eussell Leo, James 
Francis, Eex Joseph, Mary Dorothy, Frances June, and Euth Marcella. 
These children have received excellent advantages both at home and in 
the local schools. Mr. Wegeng has proved himself a friend of education and 
has served as school director. He is a Democrat in politics and a member 
of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Crittenden Township. 
His home farm is on Eural Eoute No. 64 out of Longview. 

GEORGE M. PORTER, a veteran of the Philippine War, has had a very 
strenuous and active career, but is now quietly engaged in the business of 
farming and stock raising near Homer, where he was born November 29, 
1881. Mr. Porter represents some old settlers in this section of Illinois. 
His parents were Charles D. and Effie M. (Custer) Porter. His father 
was born in Ireland and was brought to America when a child, the family 
locating in Pennsylvania. The grandfather, Thomas Porter, finally 
brought his family to Homer, Illinois, and was the first cobbler in that 
town. Charles D. Porter became a railroad man and was killed at Spring- 
field in 1902. He was switching cars when he slipped and went under a 
moving train to his death. Mr. Porter's maternal grandfather, Martin B. 
Custer, walked all the way from Buffalo, West Virginia, to Homer, and 
for several years clerked for M. D. Coffeen in the latter's store. He also 
became a commission buyer of live stock for Mr. Coffeen and in that way 
got his start in life. He became a wealthy man and owned eight hundred 
and sixty acres in Vermilion County besides lots in Chicago Heights and 
Danville. Through his daughter, Mrs. Porter, all this property 'eventually 
descended to his grandson, George M. Porter. Mrs. Effie Porter died at 
Tampa, Florida, in 1907. 

George M. Porter, the only child of his parents, spent his early life 
on a farm, and secured his education in the common schools. He was 
seventeen years of age when the war with Spain broke out and he then 
joined Troop G of the Fourth United States Cavalry. He was all through 
the Philippine War, and was in active service for four years. After his 
marriage he returned home and for seven years was a railroad man with 
the Chicago and Alton. Since then he has had active management of the 
extensive farm interests he owns in the vicinity of Homer and makes a 
specialty of feeding cattle and of handling thoroughbred Hampshire hogs. 

On May 30, 1902, Mr. Porter married Fannie B. DeFrates, of French 
parentage. They have one son, Charles George, born August 3, 1903, 
and they also have two daughters, Hilda and Dorothy E. Mr. Porter is 
one of the best known citizens of Homer. He is a thirty-second degree 
Scottish Bite Mason and a member of various other Masonic bodies, belongs 
to the Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of 
Pythias, is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Homer and in politics 
is a Eepublican. 

GEORGE N. LEAS. ,No name can be recalled more profitably for the 
instruction and enlightenment of future generations in Champaign County 
than that of the Leas family. One of its representatives is Mr. George N. 
Leas, a prosperous land owner, farmer and business man at St. Joseph. 

Mr. Leas is a native of Champaign County, having been born in Stanton 
Township, April 10, 1869, son of William C. and Margaret (Argo) Leas: 



1000 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

His paternal ancestors were from Indiana, while the Argos came from 
Ohio. The Leas family located in Champaign County in early days. 
William C. Leas was a gallant soldier of the Civil War. He served his 
country three years, marching and battling for the cause of the Union, and 
did not return from the front until the flag was waving in triumph over 
all the states. After the war he settled down and reared a family of 
honorable children, educating and training them for the responsible duties 
of life. He was wounded in the battle of Chattanooga, and just forty 
years to the day from that event he attended the reunion of Wilder's 
brigade on the battlefield of Chattanooga, being accompanied by his son 
George N. and wife. 

George N. Leas was one of three children, the other two being daugh- 
ters. Mr. Leas married Martha Bowers, member of another notable family 
in Champaign County. She was born in Indiana, November 28, 1870, a 
daughter of A. J. and Kuth (Raper) Bowers, also natives of Indiana. 
Mrs. Leas was educated in the Bowers district school in Champaign County. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Leas farmed for one year eighty 
acres of land belonging to his father in Stanton Township. His father 
was so much pleased with the manner in which his son did the farm work 
that at the end of the year he placed a deed for the eighty acres in 
George's Christmas stocking, and at the same time gave a similar deed 
to his daughter, Mrs. Christie. Later he gave another eighty acres to the 
other daughter, Mrs. Leigh. William C. Leas was always impartial and 
treated all his children alike. 

For five years Mr. and Mrs. Leas occupied the eighty-acre farm in 
Stanton Township. About that time Mrs. Leas' father, A. J. Bowers, 
desired" to sell his place and expressed a wish that some of his family should 
be its owner. Therefore Mr. Leas with his father, William, bought the 
Bowers estate, where Mrs. Leas had spent her girlhood. Thus the place 
is endeared to her by many associations. 

A. J. Bowers was a minister of the Dunkard or the Brethren Church. 
He ministered to the organization at Urbana and also the congregation in 
the Swearingen schoolhouse four miles southeast of St. Joseph. He was 
a faithful minister for seventeen years, and during all kinds of weather 
he never failed to be on hand to hold services. It is the rule of the 
church of the Brethren that ministers shall serve without financial recom- 
pense, and this adds to the merit of Mr. Bowers' splendid fidelity and 
work. He was a splendid citizen, widely informed in secular as well as 
biblical knowledge, and his life was one of Christian action. His widow 
remained at the old homestead with the family of her daughter, Mrs. 
Leas, until September 24, 1917, when she entered into rest, her husband 
preceding her to the realm of the dead five years previous. The land of 
this estate was first acquired from the Government by Benjamin F. Argo, 
and he sold 120 acres to Mr. A. J. Bowers in 1872. At that time the 
land had very few improvements. Mr. Bowers owned the property for 
thirty years, and during that time he beautified the place with commodious 
buildings, set out fruit trees and shade trees, including a fine grove of 
evergreens in front of the house and lined the driveway with maples and 
pines. Thus, as a result of his labors, it was converted into one of the 
conspicuous country seats of St. Joseph Township. Mr. Bowers took spe- 
cial pride in his fruits, and at one time had seven varieties of yellow 
peaches growing in his orchard. He practiced agriculture with the faith 
of the true Christian, believing that where he sowed there also should he 
reap, and he had many evidences that his diligence and faithfulness were 
liberally rewarded. He also took pride in his home, and it was one of his 
greatest pleasures that his daughter's family finally took charge of the 






HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1001 

management of the estate where he had worked so long and faithfully. 
The Bowers property comprised 200 acres originally. 

Since he took active charge Mr. Leas has done much to increase the 
value and attractiveness of the farm, and all is now in a shining state of 
improvement and cultivation. Mr. Leas is one of the leading stock farmers 
of Champaign County, has a number of full blooded Percheron horses, 
Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. 

Mr. and Mrs. Leas have two sons, George William and Arthur Bowers, 
aged respectively seventeen and twelve years. The Bowers district school 
furnished them their early advantages and George is now a student in the 
St. Joseph High School. 

Mr. Leas and wife spent seven years in western Canada, in what is 
now the Province of Alberta. They made this change for the benefit of 
the health of Mrs. .Leas. Mr. Leas now owns 960 acres of the land of 
western Canadian prairies and is very enthusiastic about the country, and 
is certain that it is now the greatest land of opportunity in the western 
hemisphere. While in western Canada they saw much of the scenery of 
the Canadian Eockies and also visited Portland, Oregon. 

Mr. and Mrs. Leas are members of the Christian church, the Prairie 
Hope Church, a splendid little chapel which was built from lumber taken 
off Grandfather Leas' estate in Indiana and was hauled by his sons to the 
site of the present building. Grandfather Leas was a charter member of 
the church, and thus that place of worship has many happy associations for 
the family. 

In politics Mr. Leas is an active Eepublican, is identified with the 
Masonic order, and has been a stanch friend of education and schools, 
having served as director of the local school. Thus the lives of the Bowers 
and Leas families have been in many ways identified with the best life of 
Champaign County. 

In conclusion a word should be said concerning the life and character 
of Mrs. Margaret (Argo) Leas and her husband, William Leas, the parents 
of George N. They possessed many admirable traits of character, but 
especially were noted for their generous hospitality and kindness to the 
poor and needy. After her death it was well said that no one could ever 
take her place in the community. Whenever a needy family moved into 
the neighborhood this worthy mother, with her heart filled with love, was 
the first to be there, a ministering angel of mercy, and many a heart 
and home were gladdened by her presence. They were constant in Chris- 
tian practice and charity, relieving distress, lightening burdens, enkindling 
hope, and no one eyer called upon them in vain. It seemed to be Mrs. 
Leas' special mission to help the poor and unfortunate in 'the bearing of 
their burdens, and like the woman of old it will be written of her in 
letters of imperishable gold, "She had done what she could." Father Leas 
was a devoted member of his church and one of his rules of life was that 
when he had Sunday visitors they were invited to attend religious service 
with him or remain at home until his return, recognizing thus his Christian 
obligation to his church and its importance. 

JERRY GORMAN. One of the most widely known men of Champaign 
County is Jerry Gorman. Mr. Gorman has had an unusual career of 
achievement. He is a hard working and thrifty Irishman,' never had any 
special advantages when a boy, and has relied on honest toil and judgment 
born of experience to. place him in the front rank of farmers and land 
owners. 

He was born in Ireland, came to America when a young boy, grew up 
on farms in Grundy County, Illinois, where he worked out as a hired 



1002 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

laborer, and in 1875 he came to Champaign County. At that time he 
located on section 7 of Raymond Township, and began as a modest but 
substantial farmer. His success has been growing year by year, and out 
of the proceeds of his work as a general farmer and stock raiser he has 
increased his holdings to 1,200 acres and has some of the best improve- 
ments found on any individual tract of land in the southern part of Cham- 
paign County. Mr. Gorman is a vigorous Democrat, and he and his 
family worship as members of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church 
of Crittenden Township. 

He married Mary Fitzgerald, a native of Champaign County, and six- 
teen children were born to their union. Fourteen of these are still living, 
named as follows: John, on the home place; Maggie, wife of Terrence 
Williams of Danville; Mary, wife of Mathew Reynolds of Springfield; 
Catherine, wife of M. Lowry of Crittenden Township; while the other 
children, all at home, are named Fannie, Annie, Josephine, Hester, Ruth, 
Gertrude, James, Jeremiah, Lawrence, and Martin. Truly, this is one of 
the notable families of Champaign County. 

DAVID B. WHITE. For sixty-three years one of the fine farms of 
Homer Township, Champaign County, has stood in the name of White, 
which is an old and respected name in this section, where it has always 
meant good citizenship, sterling integrity and those personal qualities 
which engender friendly feeling in a neighborhood. The present owners 
of the old White homestead are heirs of Henry Clay White by his first 
and second marriages. David B. White was born here November 19, 1871. 
His parents were Henry Clay and Elizabeth (Stayton) (Sweringen) White. 

Henry Clay White was born in Ohio. He was reared on a farm and 
was accustomed early to the handling of cattle and he often in later 
years told of a journey he made in early manhood to New York City in 
company with others, when they drove a bunch of beef cattle to the 
metropolis. He never complained of the hardships of the trip although 
he traveled on foot the whole distance there and back. Such an enter- 
prising young man was just such a pioneer as was needed in Illinois and 
when he came from Ohio he brought his household possessions with him 
with a team of oxen. They proved very useful in breaking up the tough 
prairie sod when he settled on his tract of 160 acres on section 20, Homer 
Township, in Champaign County. He was a man of great enterprise and 
gave encouragement to many of the early business ventures in' this section, 
especially the building of mills. Later in life he lent his influence to 
progressive movements in township and county and was a friend of the 
County Fair Association. Being better educated than many of the early 
settlers, his advice was frequently sought, and for sixteen years he served 
as township commissioner. His death occurred April 16, 1913. 

Henry Clay White was thrice married. His first wife was Emily 
Laborn, and they had four children, namely : Abraham L., who lives in the 
city of Indianapolis ; Charles F., who lives at Danville, Illinois ; and two 
daughters who died in infancy, the death of the mother following. Mr. 
White's second marriage was to Mrs. Elizabeth (Stayton) Sweringen, 
a widow whose husband had been killed in the Civil War. She had one 
son, Henry Sweringen, who is now deceased. She was born in Illinois 
and died in this state. There were children born to the second marriage 
as follows : John C., who lives at Homer, Illinois ; David B. ; Sadie E., who 
is the wife of Marley Davidson, of Defiance, Ohio; Frank B., who lives 
at Danville, Illinois ; James S., who is deceased ; and Elizabeth E., who 
is also deceased. To the third marriage of Henry Clay White, with 
Caroline Upp, no children were born. 






HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1003 

David B. White had educational advantages in the public schools. 
He has always been engaged in agricultural pursuits and has been farming 
for himself since 1893. He entertains modern ideas concerning his 
business and believes in 'the keeping of good stock and caring for them as 
valuable property, and the use of first class farm machinery. His is one 
of the best improved farms in the township. 

Mr. White was married on March 21, 1895, to Miss Minnie Clutter, 
who was born in Vermilion County, and is a daughter of Abraham and 
Matilda (Carrol) Clutter, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania and 
both died in Vermilion County, Illinois. Mrs. White was the youngest 
born in their family of five children, the others being: Samuel, who is a 
resident of Homer; John, who makes his home in Pennsylvania; William, 
who lives in Vermilion County; and Alice, who is the wife of Wayne 
Smith, of Danville, Illinois. 

Mr. and Mrs. White have two sons: Glenn C., who was born May 6, 
1898 ; and D. Gordon, who was born June 8, 1908. Mr. White and family 
belong to the Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a Eepublican and 
for twenty years has served as a school director, and it may not be out 
of place to mention that Homer Township is proud of its reputation for 
its excellent schools. Mr. White is a Mason and also an Odd Fellow. 

BENJAMIN C. PAINE. Among the substantial citizens and large prop- 
erty owners of Champaign County, one who has contributed to his com- 
munity's welfare and prestige by his splendid citizenship no less than by 
the honorable success which he has gained in a material way, is Benjamin C. 
Paine. Belonging to a family that has been well known in the county for 
more than sixty years, Mr. Paine has maintained the high reputation 
borne by the family name and in offices of public trust and responsibility has 
vindicated the faith and confidence placed in his ability and integrity. 

Mr. Paine was born near Sidney, Champaign County, Illinois, May 12, 
1867, a son of Andrew J. and Elizabeth (Shackelford) Paine. His father, 
born August 19, 1832, in Worcester County, Massachusetts, was twenty- 
three years of age when he came to Champaign County, Illinois, settling 
in Philo Township, where he resided for two years. He next purchased 
eighty acres of land near Sidney, but in 1868 removed to Raymond Town- 
ship, where he bought a like tract, and this he had increased to 180 acres 
by the time of his death, September 15, 1903. Mr. Paine was a Democrat 
in politics and one of the influential men of his community, serving as 
town clerk for fifteen years and as justice of the peace from 1872 until his 
death. He was a man of upright character, upon whose judgment his 
associates depended in matters of business and civic importance, and who 
took the initiative in movements for the general public welfare. With 
Mrs. Paine he attended the Christian Church. Mr. Paine was married 
April 26, 1861, to Elizabeth Shackelford, who was born in Kentucky, came 
in young womanhood to Illinois with her parents, and died June 2, 1898. 
They were the parents of three children : Sarah and Leanah J., who are 
deceased; and Benjamin C. 

Benjamin C. Paine was given good educational advantages in his youth, 
first attending the district schools of Champaign County, later the high 
school at Sidney, and finally Eureka (Illinois) College, where he was a 
student for one year. He then returned to the home farm, where he 
assisted his father until his marriage, when he rented 160 acres of land and 
worked this for about fifteen years. Removing then to Fairland, he became 
cashier of the Farmers Bank, a position which he held for two years, and 
then returned to the farm, where he resumed his general farming and stock 
raising operations. He is now the owner of 400 acres of land, a part of 



1004 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

this being in Douglas County, and he makes his home at Longview, from 
whence he superintends the work on his property. In business circles Mr. 
Paine has an excellent standing and his integrity in civic affairs has been 
no less pronounced. He has served as supervisor, "town clerk, assessor and 
collector, and in each position has unselfishly devoted himself to a con- 
scientious discharge of his duties, applying his best energies in a proper 
administration of affairs for the benefit of his community. He is fraternally 
affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Fairland Camp 
No. 791; Longview Camp No. 2852, Modern Woodmen of America; and 
Fairland Lodge No. 327, Court of Honor. He supports the Christian 
Church in its various movements, and is a Republican in his political views. 
On October 17, 1889, Mr. Paine married Miss Emma M. Rees, born 
in Iroquois County, Illinois, daughter of Robert and Harriet (Gibson) 
Rees, natives of Indiana, who came to Broadlands, Illinois, in 1885. There 
Mr. Rees died March 9, 1914, and Mrs. Rees in March, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. 
Rees had twelve children, those living being: Louis of Broadlands; 
Thomas B. ; Mary, the widow of Gilford Sims of Chicago ; Julia, the wife 
of J. J. Douthitt of Broadlands ; Emma M., now Mrs. Paine ; Elizabeth, the 
wife of G. C. Vance of Longview; and Addie, the wife of Charles Levie 
of Iroquois County. Mr. and Mrs. Paine have three children : Ada Emma, 
born May 30, 1905 ; Eva Julia, born April 22, 1906 ; and Andrew J., born 
September 8, 1907. 

PETER H. MULLIGAN, present postmaster of Tolono, has been so long 
identified with the citizenship and farming activities of southern Cham- 
paign County as to require no special introduction. 

Mr. Mulligan was born at Tolono July 4, 1865. His parents, Peter 
and Margaret (Lynch) Mulligan, were both natives of Ireland. The 
father came to this country when a young man, lived in New York about 
three years, spent another two years in Indiana and then joined the early 
settlers of Champaign County, establishing his home on a farm near 
Tolono. There he followed his vocation as a farmer until his death in 
1895. His wife had passed away January 4, 1895. They had seven chil- 
dren : Margaret, of Tolono ; William, of Tolono ; Thomas, of Champaign ; 
Peter H.; Ellen, who died in infancy; Lewis, of Tolono; and Daniel, 
deceased. 

Peter H. Mulligan grew up on his father's farm in Champaign County. 
He learned the lessons as taught in the district schools and was at home 
helping his father in the fields until the age of twenty-three. He and his 
brother Lewis then rented 160 acres of land for a couple of years, after 
which he bought the farm he still owns in Tolono Township. Mr. Mulli- 
gan has lived in the village of Tolono since 1912, and in 1913 received 
appointment as postmaster and has given all his time to the capable 
administration of that office. 

In April, 1903, he married Elizabeth Sandwell, a native of Philo 
Township. Their only child died in infancy. Mr. Mulligan is an active 
Democrat and he and his wife are members of the Catholic Church. 

E. CLARENCE CHURCHILL. With the exception of a short period spent 
at St. Louis, E. Clarence Churchill has passed his entire career in Cham- 
paign County, where he is now known as a representative of the class of 
men who have added impetus and encouragement to business, financial and 
agricultural development. Mr. Churchill entered the Longview Bank in the 
fall of 1906, and has steadily risen in prestige and position until at this 
time he is occupying the office of vice president of this institution, to the 
success of which his abilities and energies have greatly contributed. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1005 

E. Clarence Churchill was born on the family farm in Raymond Town- 
ship, Champaign County, Illinois, January 23, 1882, a son of John W. 
and Alice I. (Martinie) Churchill, the former a native of Cortland County, 
New York, and the latter of Kentucky. His father was stiu a youth when 
he came to Champaign County in 1857, and when the Civil War came on 
enlisted as a private in Company G, Seventy-sixth Regiment, Illinois 
Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Ingersoll. His service began in 1862 
and continued until he received his honorable discharge, July 22, 1865, at 
Galveston, Texas, and between these dates he had seen some hard fighting 
and some exciting experiences as a soldier. Among the engagements in 
which he participated were the siege of Vicksburg, the engagements at and 
around Jackson, Mississippi, the sanguinary fighting at Fort Blakeley, 
and the battles at Mobile, and while he was with the Federal forces in 
Georgia, was captured by the enemy and held a prisoner for six months. 
After his military service was completed Mr. Churchill returned to Cham- 
paign County, where he continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits 
for a number of years, but finally turned his attention to mercantile 
affairs and rounded out a long, successful and honorable career at Long- 
view, where his death occurred in 1910. He was one of this community's 
citizens who was not selfish in his aspirations, giving his support always 
to enterprises and institutions which assisted the community in it com- 
mercial, moral and civic growth. That he was successful in a material 
way is shown by the fact that before his death he had accumulated about 
900 acres of land, in addition to having other holdings and interests. 
Mr. Churchill and his wife, who is also now deceased, had three children: 
Mary C., who is the wife of Horace B. Stevens, of Homer, New York; 
Charles F. and E. Clarence. 

After attending the public schools of Longview, E. Clarence Churchill 
pursued a three-year course at the Westfield (Illinois) College, and with 
this preparation accepted a position with the American Radiator Company 
of St. Louis, Missouri. His connection with this concern extended 
only over a short period, however, for he was offered and accepted an 
engagement with the Longview Bank in the fall of 1906, and, as before 
noted, has advanced steadily with this banking house, of which he is now 
vice president. In addition, in partnership with his brother, Charles F. 
Churchill, he is engaged in superintending the operations of 680 acres of 
Champaign County farming land, some of which was purchased by his 
father at $6 per acre and more of which cost him $20.0 and $212 per 
acre for its purchase. In banking, business and financial circles, he has 
established and retained a reputation for sound judgment, reliability and 
acumen, and the confidence in which he is held by his fellow citizens was 
recently evidenced by his election to the office of village treasurer, to the 
duties of which post he is giving -his abilities at the present time. Mr. 
Churchill is a Republican. 

On June 7, 1909, Mr. Churchill was married to Miss Myrtle Goble, who 
was born in Clark County, Illinois, and they are the parents of two 
children: Winston Goble, born 'June 23, 1912; and Asenath Irene, born 
March 6, 1914. 

ALBERT R. COOPER, postmaster of Pesotum, has spent most of his life 
in this county as a practical farmer and also as a teacher, and is one of 
the dignified and influential leaders in his community. 

Mr. Cooper was born in Pesotum Township October 7, 1870, a son of 
John A. and Mary L. (Prose) Cooper. His mother was born in Ohio. 
The father, a native of West Virginia, first went west to the State of 
Missouri and from there came to Champaign County in 1863. Locating 

2 si 



.1006 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

on a farm in Pesotum Township, he went through the trials and adversi- 
ties of the pioneers and finally accumulated an estate which enabled him 
to retire and enjoy life in comfort. The mother died in April, 1880-. 
They had seven children: Minnie, wife of Frank Dowler, of Hindsboro, 
Illinois; Myra, who died in childhood; Albert E. ; Laura, wife of Albert 
Tjossem, of Ellensburg, Washington; Curtis, of Decatur, Illinois; Chester, 
who died at the age of twenty-one; and Lucy, who died in infancy. 

Albert E. Cooper grew up on his father's farm in this county, attended 
the district schools, and in 1891 finished the course of the Tolono High 
School. For one year he was a student in the University of Illinois. Mr. 
Cooper did a splendid work as a teacher, his experience including two 
terms in Champaign County and four terms in Douglas County, Illinois. 
After giving up the work of the schoolroom he spent two years on a farm 
owned by his father in Douglas County, and then returned to the old 
homestead in Champaign County in 1900 and was a practical farmer on 
its acres until the fall of 1911. 

Mr. Cooper took the civil service examination of the Federal Govern- 
ment and on September 8, 1910, was appointed postmaster of Pesotum 
under the Taft administration. Under the civil service rules he remains 
in the office and is giving an administration satisfactory to all the patrons. 
While living on the farm he was twice elected assessor of Pesotum Town- 
ship, and has also served as director of the local schools. 

June 29, 1898, Mr. Cooper married Miss Nettie Knapp. She was 
born at Arcola, Illinois. Their family consists of seven children, all living 
and all in the family circle. Their names are Eva Lena, Hattie Leah, 
John Maurice, Albert Ealph, Selma Edith, Paul Eex and Guy Anton. 

Mr. Cooper is a Eepublican in politics. He is affiliated with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, 
and with his family worships in the United Brethren Church. 

CHARLES FRANK VAN VLECK. It is not so very many years ago since 
the first American automobile attracted interest and curious comment 
as it rather cautiously sped up and down the highways of town and 
country, and few people had sufficient confidence -in the new machine to 
predict that the time would come when it would practically supplant all 
other ordinary means of transportation. Its development has been so 
rapid and substantial that business men in all lines, all over the country, 
soon found themselves becoming first interested and later concerned with 
the automobile industry in some way. One of the necessary adjuncts is 
the public garage, and many men of solid business experience have found 
that they have made no mistake in investing in enterprises of this kind. 
One who is doing a fine business at Philo is Charles Frank Van Vleck. 

Charles F. Van Vleck was born at Philo, Illinois, August 10, 1870. 
His parents were Charles H. and Jennie M. (Palmer) Van Vleck, the 
former of whom was born in the state of New York and the latter at 
Joliet, Illinois. They came to Philo in 1868 and the father embarked in 
a grain business at this point, in which he continued to be interested for 
many years. His death occurred at Philo February 8, 1916, his reputa- 
tion as an upright business man never having been impaired. The mother 
died at Philo in October, 1872, when their only child was but two years 
old. He was educated in the public schools and remained with his father 
and when twenty-one years of age went into the grain business with him 
and continued to handle grain in this section for the next fourteen years. 
After Mr. Van Vleck sold his grain interests he went into the contracting 
and building business and erected a number of buildings in this vicinity 
before he went into the automobile business, in which he is greatly pros- 




JAMES C. MCCASKRIN 

KAXTOUL, ILLINOIS 



HAERY M. MCCASKRIN AND 

ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS 



Mns. MARGARET MCCASKRIN 




GEORGE W. McCASKitiN 




J. D. STAYTON AND FAMILY 

1! \NTODL, ILLINOIS 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1007 

pering. He built a commodious garage with dimensions 59x74 feet and 
makes a specialty of handling the Overland cars. 

Mr. Van Vleck was married March 4, 1891, to Miss Anna E. Hoover, 
and they have had three children, namely: Vere, who died at the age 
of six months; Mary, who is the wife of John Mooney, of Indianapolis, 
Indiana; and Lorraine, who lives with her parents and assists her mother 
in dispensing hospitality in their pleasant home. 

In politics Mr. Van Vleck is a sound Eepublican and on numerous 
occasions he has been elected by his party to important public office, at 
present serving as township supervisor and with the utmost efficiency. 
Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow and a Thirty-second degree Mason. 

JAMES P. MCPHERREN, present postmaster of Homer, and a native of 
this section of Illinois, has been a successful business man for many years 
and has exemplified the energetic qualities of the real business "builder. 

Mr. McPherren was born in Ford County, Illinois, July 22, 1871, but 
has spent practically all his life in Champaign County. His parents were 
Thomas J. and Amanda J. (Eoberts) McPherren. They were born in 
Indiana and came to Illinois in 1857, locating on a farm in Champaign 
County. His father died at Homer November 16, 1891, and the mother 
is now living with her son James. There were ten children in the family : 
Maria, widow of Dan Miller, living in Indiana; Rachel, deceased; Alice, 
wife of Nels Christison, of Nebraska; Josephine, wife of J. C. Flanding, 
of Indiana; Thomas, of Mount Vernon, Illinois; James P.; Robert, of 
Denison, Texas; Cyrus, living in this state; Mary, whose home is at 
Homer; and Nellie, wife of L. N. Hall, of Champaign. 

James P. McPherren grew up on his father's farm, receiving a common 
school education, and stayed with his parents and helped manage the farm 
until 1896. He then took up the contracting business, and for three years 
was a manufacturer of brick and tile at Homer. Following that for eight 
years he was a concrete contractor, and then during President Wilson's 
first term was appointed postmaster of Homer and has looked after the 
administration of the local post-office to the satisfaction of all his constit- 
uents. Mr. McPherren is a Democrat, a member of the Masonic order 
and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Miss Nellie 
Trimble, a native of Champaign County. 

J. C. McCASKEiN. Of the families that have contributed much to the 
life and substance of Champaign County during passing years that of Mr. 
and Mrs. J. C. McCaskrin of Rantoul stand conspicuous. 

They came as young married people to Champaign County more than 
forty-five years ago. . J. C. McCaskrin was a son of Harrison M. and 
Louisa E. McCaskrin, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter 
of Ohio. The mother's family moved from Ohio to Indiana and entered a 
Government tract of land. Harrison McCaskrin was a miller by trade and 
followed that occupation in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. J. C. McCaskrin 
was the fourth in a family of five children, four sons and one daughter. 
The daughter, Mary Elizabeth, married Mr. Holliday and moved to Oswego, 
Kansas. Two of the sons, Reuben B. and George W., were Union soldiers 
and both lost their lives during the service. When the McCaskrin children 
were quite young their father died in White County, Indiana, and the 
widowed mother then took her children back to Tippecanoe County, where 
she fell heir to the family estate and lived there to see her sons grown to 
worthy manhood. The other son, Winfield Scott, lived with his mother 
and cared for her throughout her lifetime, subsequently removing to Kan- 
sas, where he died. 



1008 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

J. C. McCaskrin married, in December, 1869, Miss Margaret Cloyd. 
She was a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Nicewander) Cloyd. The 
Cloyd family consisted of six children, Maria, William, Margaret, Louisa, 
Albert and Lydia. They were educated in the public schools of Tippe- 
canoe County, Indiana. John Cloyd was noted for his fine bred stock. 

A few months after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McCaskrin came to 
Champaign County, Illinois, and built a small house twelve by fourteen feet 
out on the broad prairie. They also had a small hay stable and one team 
of horses. This was the equipment with which the industrious young people 
began their lives in Champaign County. They were willing to work, pos- 
sessed health and strength, and with those assets the future stretched before 
them with many rosy prospects. The nucleus of their landed estate con- 
sisted of eighty acres. Mr. McCaskrin worked strenuously in early years 
and gradually paid not only for his first farm but by adding forty acres 
at a time increased his holdings until he now owns 200 acres of fine, rich 
land. 

Politically Mr. McCaskrin has always given loyal support to the prin- 
ciples of the Eepublican party, though he himself has refused any official 
position. 

A special part of this record should concern itself with the three chil- 
dren, two sons and a daughter, who are the crown of Mr. and Mrs. McCas- 
krin's career. The sons are H. M. and G. W., and the daughter is Louise. 
From childhood they showed a bent for study and scholarly pursuits, were 
educated in the district schools, afterward in the high school at Eantoul, 
and following their graduation in that institution they entered the Univer- 
sity of Illinois, where all of them completed courses. The sons studied 
law in the University of Michigan and are both alumni of that institution. 
H. M. McCaskrin is now a successful lawyer at Rock Island, Illinois. G. W. 
McCaskrin, who formerly practiced at Rock Island, now controls a large 
law business with offices in the Lincoln Building at Champaign. G. W. 
McCaskrin has had a life of exceptional activity and many honors. He 
served as alderman and twice as mayor of Rock Island, and was also a 
member of the State Legislature. In 1908 he was candidate for governor 
on an independent ticket. He went to the Legislature as a recognized 
exponent of the 2-cent fare on railroads in the State of Illinois. He 
originated and introduced the measure into the Legislature, which was 
passed in 1905 and brought about the reductions from the long-existing 
3-cent fares to 2 cents. While his active part in this piece of legislation 
brought him the hostility of the transportation interests, it gained for him 
the approval of the general public, who have long enjoyed the decrease in 
transportation. 

The daughter, Louise McCaskrin, after graduating from the university, 
took post-graduate work in pedagogy and also musical training under Miss 
Clara Maud Kimball at the state university. For six years she was a suc- 
cessful teacher in this county, and she then married John D. Stayton. 
Mr. Stayton was formerly a farmer, but is now successfully engaged in the 
real estate business at Rantoul. Mr. and Mrs. Stayton have had four chil- 
dren: Laura S., Jean M., Paul M. (deceased) and Leo Cloyd. Education 
and culture have always been strong motives in the McCaskrin family and 
have been equally manifested in the Stayton household, where the children 
are bright and energetic students in the Rantoul High School. Their 
musical training has been carefully supervised by their mother, and all 
the children have excellent voices and have contributed notably to many 
public entertainments. Only recently the baby of the family, Leo, aged 
five years, gained hearty applause by singing a solo. 

The McCaskrin family are mostly active members of the Methodist 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1009 

Episcopal Church, but Mrs. McCaskrin has always been a member of "the 
Christian Church, and all the children grew up to support the same faith. 
Mr. and Mrs. McCaskrin have been closely identified with the interests of 
Champaign County for many years. They properly take pride in the 
progress made by their children, and through them they realize their ambi- 
tious plans and desires of early years. They have also performed their 
part in matters of neighborly kindness and good will toward their fellow- 
men, and as they look back upon a past that is filled with accomplishment 
and worthy influences they also look to an unclouded future. 

CHAELES GEORGE DECKER. Since coming to Champaign County 
twenty-four years ago Charles G. Decker has demonstrated his thorough 
capacity and broad knowledge of farming and stock raising. His many 
years of practical experience contribute to his agricultural equipment, and 
his entire career has been devoted to the cultivation of the soil. 

Mr. Decker was born in Jennings County, Indiana, October 28, 1864, 
a son of George and Mary (Johannes) Decker. His parents were born 
in Germany. His father was brought to America when a boy, lived in 
Ohio and in the early days took rafts of provisions down the Ohio and 
Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana. He finally moved to a farm in 
Indiana and both he and his wife are now deceased. Their children were : 
Mary and Margaret, deceased; Eosa, wife of Charles Grunert, of St. 
Annes, Indiana; Jacob, deceased; Anna, wife of John Schuster, of Cin- 
cinnati; Catherine and Lena, deceased; Charles G. ; and Winnie, wife of 
John H. Meyer, of Cincinnati. 

Charles George Decker learned farming in Indiana and for a time 
had the active management of the home place. It was in 1893 that he 
came to Champaign County. For eight years he rented land, and then 
bought his present fine homestead of 230 acres in section 13 of Philo 
Township. He has made many improvements, has adapted himself to 
local conditions and besides general farming is handling Percheron horses 
as one of the chief features of his stock husbandry. He also makes a 
specialty of Shorthorn cattle and spotted China swine. 

Mr. Decker married Elizabeth Johanna Kipper, a native of Indiana. 
Their five children are Herman Nicholas, Alfred Jacob, Stella Mary, 
Florence Magdalene and Walter Steven. Politically Mr. Decker is a 
Democrat. He and his family are active members of St. Thomas Catholic 
Church and he belongs to the Knights of Columbus. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON WOODIN. Of the lives that have been a real con- 
tribution to the upbuilding and development of Champaign County during 
a long period of years that of Thomas Jefferson Woodin deserves more than 
passing consideration. Mr. Woodin and his good wife live in one of the 
most beautiful and attractive homes in the St. Joseph community, their 
home combining the attractions of both the town and country and being 
located within the village limits. 

Mr. Woodin was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, September 6, 1841, 
and his birthplace was the community known as Butler's Point. He was 
the second in a family of four sons and one daughter born to Elmore and 
Rebecca (Springer) Woodin. His father was born in New York State and 
his mother in Ohio, and both of them came to Illinois with their parents 
when children. The father served as a soldier in the Black Hawk War. 

Mr. Woodin had his early education in the district schools of Vermilion 
County. He was nineteen years of age when the war cloud arose and excite- 
ment ran high because the union of states was threatened. The bravest 
and best men in the country volunteered their services in that crisis, and 



1010 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

in September, 1861, Thomas Jefferson Woodin left his father's home and 
was one of thirty young men who enlisted at the village of St. Joseph. 
These recruits were sent to Chicago and joined a company under Captain 
McWilliams, known as the Chicago Legion. After some preparatory drill- 
ing they were sent to Cairo, Illinois, and from there to Corinth, on to 
Island No. 10, then back to Corinth, where they did guard duty, took part 
in several of the many campaigns through Tennessee and finally from 
Nashville moved to the great battleground at Stone River or Murfreesboro. 
Mr. Woodin and his comrades took an active part in that engagement, one 
of the severest battles of the war. While it was a hotly contested field it 
was a virtual victory to the Union troops, and after a long day of fighting 
the Federals lay down to rest, feeling that the day was won. The next 
day the telegraph wires carried the glad news of the victory all over the 
United States. From Stone River the regiment of which Mr. Woodin was 
a member marched through Tennessee into Georgia and he was on con- 
tinuous duty in skirmishing and then came the great battle of Chicka- 
mauga. During the first day of that battle the Union troops were driven 
back to Chattanooga. Then on the following day there was a turn of 
the tide, when the Federals regained the lost ground and Chickamauga 
became another milestone in the progress of the Union armies through the 
South. For three months the troops lay in camp and then fought the 
battle of Missionary Ridge. Mr. Woodin in that battle saw the heaviest 
fighting of his entire military experience. The Southerners had seventy- 
two pieces of artillery and thought it impossible for the Union troops to 
dislodge them. During a brief rest at one point on Missionary Ridge 
Mr. Woodin had a view of the surrounding country which gave him a 
prospect of almost the entire battleground. From here he could survey 
and witness a solid mass of Union troops extending over a four mile front 
going into battle with the enemy. After Missionary Ridge Mr. Woodin 
accompanied the troops back to Knoxville, Tennessee, to reinforce Burn- 
side, and after a march of one hundred and fifteen miles they drove Long- 
street away and relieved that besieged point. On the 18th of June began 
the noted Atlanta campaign. Mr. Woodin participated in only part of 
that hundred days campaign, and at the battle of Mud Creek he was 
severely wounded, after his division had made a charge and captured the 
objective and made many prisoners. Taken to the field hospital, he was 
then sent to Nashville, then to Louisville and finally to Springfield, 
Illinois, where during the month of August he lay in the hospital suffering 
with a gangrened wound and with typhoid fever. By careful nursing and 
with the resource of a strong constitution he recovered from his wound, 
and he has always given much credit to Mrs. Gregory, his good and faithful 
nurse, to whom he feels he owes his life. 

At the end of the war was the declaration of peace over North and 
South and Mr. Woodin was honorably discharged in June, 1865, and then 
returned home. 

On March 5, 1878, he married Miss Carrie A. Hunt. Mrs. Woodin 
was born at Eden in Erie County, New York, October 30, 1854, and when 
only four years of age, in 1858, her parents came West by railroad to 
Illinois. She has a recollection of that early journey in her life. Her 
parents were Jonathan and Caroline (West) Hunt, her father a native of 
New Jersey and her mother of New York. Mrs. Woodin was only fourteen 
years of age when her mother passed away on August 25, 1868. She 
received her education in the district schools of Champaign County, where 
the Hunt family were among the early pioneers. She completed her 
studies in the Urbana High School and afterward became clerk in a store 
at St. Joseph, where she remained until her marriage. After their mar- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1011 

riage Mr. and Mrs. Woodin located in St. Joseph and Mr. Woodin con- 
tinued his business as a stock buyer. They prospered, and one after 
another there came into their home three young sons, named Walter L., 
Earl B. and Ernest C. Realizing the advantages of an education, Mr. and 
Mrs. Woodin sent them to the local schools, the St. Joseph High School, 
and all of them completed the studies and came home proud possessors of 
diplomas. Earl continued his education in a business college at Marion, 
Indiana, two years, and took a scientific course at Dixon, Illinois. From 
there he entered the University of Illinois, having previously won the 
county scholarship, and he completed a six years' course in four years, 
graduating as a civil engineer. In that profession he has already gained 
a most gratifying position. He worked for a time at Ambridge, Pennsyl- 
vania, later in Pittsburg, and is one of the competent men in his pro- 
fession. He married Miss Grace Mast, of Urbana, Illinois, and has a 
little daughter, Gwendolyn. 

The son Walter after graduating from the local schools took a place 
on his father's farm and is now a practical and progressive farmer in 
Vermilion County. He married Grace Gibson, of St. Joseph, and they 
have three children, Agnes dying at the age of one year, and the two still 
in the home circle are Carl and Lucile. 

The son Ernest Woodin entered the University of Illinois, spending one 
year in the preparatory course, and for four years was a member of the 
military band. From college he went to Chicago, and starting on a salary 
of sixty dollars a month with the Gas & Coke Company has been steadily 
promoted until he now fills one of the high salaried positions with the 
company. 

Mr. and Mrs. Woodin are attentive members of the Church of Christ 
at St. Joseph and are among its liberal supporters. They give their politi- 
cal allegiance to the Republican party, and Mrs. Woodin has for years been 
actively identified with the prohibition cause. She is a woman of unusual 
executive ability and has sought to exercise her influence always on the 
side of right. In 1897 Mr. Woodin erected a fine modern home south 
of St. Joseph on a forty acre tract of land, and adjoining their home is a 
grove of beautiful trees constituting a widely known park of twenty acres, 
with a fine water supply and one of the favorite spots for picnickers in 
this part of the county. 

During the greater part of her life Mrs. Woodin has been afflicted with 
poor health. She has overcome that infirmity with a courageous spirit 
that has kept her constantly striving and has enabled her to rear and 
educate her boys and send them into the world well equipped for their 
duties. 

Another member of the Woodin household must be' mentioned. This 
is Mr. Woodin's half sister, Sina B. Richardson. She came into his home 
at the age of sixteen, an orphan in poor health, and has ably assisted Mrs. 
Woodin in rearing the sons and did much to encourage them in every way 
while they were obtaining their educations and coming to manhood. She 
shared the joys and sorrows of the household, and is one of the most 
faithful women of Champaign County. Mr. and Mrs. Woodin have made 
ample provision in case she should survive them that her last days may be 
spent in comfort and peace. For a number of years she has had active 
charge of the beautiful park at the Woodin home. In order to encourage 
the building of the Interurban Railroad Mr. and Mrs. Woodin donated a 
part of their own land to the road, and their public spirit in this instance 
has been one of many cases in which they have worked for the betterment 
and uplift of the community. 



1012 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ALBERT LEHMAN SOUTHWORTH, living retired at Longview, represents 
one of the old and substantial families of Champaign County, his people 
having located here more than sixty years ago and having played worthy 
and active parts in the development and transformation of Raymond 
Township. 

Mr. Southworth was born in Erie County, Ohio, August 14, 1850, son 
of John Randolph and Anna (Akers) Southworth. His father was a 
Connecticut man by birth while his mother was born in Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania. It was in 1855 that the family came to Champaign 
County and settled on a tract of raw and unimproved land in section 29, 
Raymond Township. The father lived there and cultivated the soil until 
his death in 1885, while the mother passed away in 1893. They were 
the parents of six children: Mary Adelaide, widow of Martin B. Reed, 
living in Colorado; Julia Ann, deceased; Horace Franklin, deceased; 
Albert L. ; John J., of Danville, Illinois; and May Lilly, wife of James 
Watts, of Fairland. 

Albert L. Southworth has had an active career, was reared on the home 
farm in Raymond Township, attended the local schools, and at the age of 
twenty-three left home and went to Parsons, Kansas, where he lived on 
a farm for seven years. His next experience was near Soda Springs, 
Colorado, where he spent three years as a miner. On returning to Cham- 
paign County he rented the home place for about three years, and again 
went back to Kansas and did farming for seven years. Since then he has 
lived at Longview and is retired. Mr. Southworth is a Democrat in 
politics. 

JOHN T. FREEMAN. Because of the intelligence and good judgment 
of many of the large farmers of Champaign County, this section of the state 
contributes much to the general food supply and scarcely any other indus- 
try is so well worth engaging in or so compensating when everything 
else is considered. One of the wide awake, modern and prosperous farmers 
of this section of Illinois is found in John T. Freeman, who owns large 
tracts of cultivated land in Homer and Ogden townships. 

John T. Freeman was born in Champaign County, Illinois, July 25, 
1854, and is a son of Thomas and Nancy (Redman) Freeman, both of 
whom were born in Ohio. From that state they came to Illinois and dur- 
ing the first year lived in Vermilion County, moving in 1851 to Cham- 
paign County and settling in Homer Township, where Thomas Freeman 
engaged in farming during the rest of his active life. He was born in 
1826 and died in 1908. His wife was born in 1826 and died in 1902. 
They were estimable people and are kindly remembered by their neighbors. 
They were the parents of six children, namely : Mary M., who is deceased ; 
Edmund R., who is a resident of Ogden, Illinois ; John T. ; James J., who 
also lives in Homer Township; William H., who died at the age of two 
months; and Martha, who died in infancy. 

John T. Freeman grew to manhood on his father's farm in Homer 
Township and gained his education in the district schools. His first 
farming venture on his own account was in the vicinity of Ogden, Illinois, 
where he remained for three years. He then moved to Homer Township 
and bought 380 acres lying on the State Road, his present acreage and the 
location being as follows : 160 acres in section 29, Homer Township ; 100 
acres in section 32, Homer Township; 120 acres in Ogden Township 
situated in sections 29 and 30. Mr. Freeman carries on general farming 
and according to the most approved methods. 

Mr. Freeman was married October 23, 1879, to Miss Jennie B. Silkey, 
who was born in Ohio, and they have had two sons, the younger of whom 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1013 

died in infancy. The older, Eoy C., is county judge of Champaign County. 

The parents of Mrs. Freeman were John P. and Mary (McMahn) 
Silkey. The father was born in New Jersey and the mother in Ohio. 
They came to Champaign County in 1863 and at first Mr. Silkey worked 
at his trade, that of a tinner, but later went into the monument business. 
They were well known and highly respected people. They had six 
children, namely: Thomas E., who lives at Danville, Illinois; Joseph B., 
who is a resident of Royal, Illinois; Fremont, who is deceased; Jennie B., 
who is the wife of John T. Freeman ; Charles M., who lives at Mt. Pulaski, 
Illinois; and Annie M., who is the wife of James H. Freeman, of Ogden, 
Illinois. . 

In politics Mr. Freeman is a Republican and for six years he served 
as commissioner of highways, " giving universal satisfaction. He has 
belonged to the Masonic fraternity for many years past and attends the 
lodge at Homer. 

JOSEPH E. JOHNSON. While he is still a young man, the career of 
Joseph E. Johnson has been one filled with successful participation in a 
number of ventures, and in its range and activities has invaded the fields 
of both commerce and finance. In the former direction he is at the head 
of a grain and lumber business that is recognized as one of the necessary 
commercial adjuncts of Broadlands, and in the latter capacity he is cashier 
of the Bank of Broadlands and a man of much financial knowledge and 
ability. Likewise, Mr. Johnson is a citizen who has spent his entire life 
at Broadlands, is well acquainted with its needs in a civic way, and has 
always been eager to further its interests. 

Joseph E. Johnson was born at Broadlands, Champaign County, 
Illinois, September 11, 1881, and is a son of Charles J. and Barbara 
(Mack) Johnson, the former a native of Sweden and the latter of Bohemia. 
Charles J. Johnson was about at his majority when he immigrated to the 
United States in 1877, and his first location was on a farm in Ayers Town- 
ship, Champaign County. During the remaining active years of his 
career he continued to follow agricultural pursuits with much success, 
but recently has retired and he and Mrs. Johnson are living at Broad- 
lands, in the enjoyment of all the comforts and conveniences which may 
be won through industry and right living. They are the parents of three 
children: Anna, the wife of Ira Laverick, who is engaged in farming in 
Ayers Township; Joseph E., of this notice; and William H., who is 
engaged in farming in Douglas county. 

After attending the public schools of the vicinity of his home Joseph 
E. Johnson further prepared himself by taking a course at Brown's Bus- 
iness College at Champaign. While a youth he had thoroughly learned 
the business of farming through assisting his father during the summer 
months, and when his commercial course was completed he returned to 
the homestead, where he sp.ent five years at the vocation of agriculturist. 
He then decided to put his business training to some use, and, coming to 
Broadlands, entered the Bank of Broadlands as bookkeeper. He retained 
this position for three years, when, because of his general ability, fidelity 
and industry, on January 1, 1917, he was given the post of cashier and still 
retains this office. In the meantime, during the time he was acting as 
bookkeeper, he had entered commercial affairs on his own account, having 
founded a lumber, coal and grain business, which he built up to large 
proportions. After assuming the duties of cashier Mr. Johnson found 
that his responsibilities were too heavy and he was compelled to drop the 
coal business, although he still handles lumber and grain in large quan- 



1014 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

tities. He is one of his community's sound and substantial business men, 
and his personal probity of character has done much to increase the bus- 
iness of the bank with which he is connected. He is a Republican, but 
not a politician or office seeker, is fraternally identified with the Masons, 
and his religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Mr. Johnson was married February 10, 1904, to Miss Lulu D. Morris, 
and to this union there has come one son, Charles Morris, born October 
2, 1909, and now attending the public schools. 

JAMES M. CUHRENT. One of the oldest business men in Champaign 
County is James M. Current, of Homer. He and his family have con- 
ducted a grain business for a great many years in this and in Vermilion 
County. His life has 'been one of constant activity and from small be- 
ginnings he has acquired a competence and an honorable reputation. 

Mr. Current was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, January 21, 1842, 
a son of William and Mary (Bastion) Current. His parents were both 
born in Virginia, his .father in 1803 and his mother in 1807. His father 
located in Vermilion County among the pioneers in 1826 and six years 
later was a soldier in the Black Hawk War. He was a farmer and his 
death occurred August 6, 1851. There were fourteen children in the 
family, and four sons are still living: George, now in the Soldiers Home 
at Danville, Illinois ; James M. ; Isaac, of Danville ; and Samuel, who lives 
in Nebraska. Another son, Samuel, was a soldier and was one of the 
guards at Lincoln's funeral in Washington. 

James M. Current grew up in Vermilion County and remained there 
as an active farmer until 1871. For three and a half years he was in the 
meat and grocery business at Danville, but in 1875 moved to a farm six 
miles southeast of Homer in Vermilion County. In 1892 he engaged in 
the grain business at Fairmont, and in 1901 moved his business head- 
quarters to Homer, where he is still active, though now past seventy-five 
years of age. 

On October 18, 1859, when not yet eighteen years of age, Mr. Current 
married Miss Mary E. Lynch. Six children were born to them: 
William H., now associated with his father in business; Abraham L., of 
Danville; Mary Jane and Sarah Melissa, both deceased; Martin A., of 
Danville; and Fay R. Fay R. served three years as mayor of Homer. 
He is an active member of the Masonic Order. Fay Current married 
Florence Giddings, a native of Kentucky, and four children were born to 
their marriage : George J., deceased ; Victor V. ; Vernon R., deceased ; and 
Alta Belle. The son William H. married for his first wife Lovina Gibson 
and they were the parents of six children : Etta and Frank, both deceased ; 
Fred; Bertha, wife of Ralph Kelsheimer; Clark; and Seymour. William 
H. married for his second wife Gretchen Whitshof. 

James M. Current is a Republican in politics, a member of the Masonic 
Order and has long been active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He 
is a local preacher and at the special request of the official board he deliv- 
ered a sermon at Homer on his seventy-fifth birthday. 

^ 

FRED W. HOWELL. While the greater part of Champaign County may 
be included in the agricultural belt, many of the finest farms may be 
found in Homer Township, where the type of citizenship is high and 
unusually intelligent. Modern methods prevail, the farmers use the very 
best farm machinery and are generally open minded, yet practical, as to 
improved ways of carrying on their important industries. One of these 
well informed agriculturists is Fred W. Howell, who has lived on his 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1015 

present farm in section 29 since he was eleven years old. He was born 
in Homer Township, July 23, 1885, and is the only child of his parents, 
Samuel W. and Savannah (Brown) Howell, natives of Indiana, who are 
now living at Fort Collins, Colorado. 

Fred W. Howell obtained his education in the public schools. He was 
reared on the farm now owned by his parents and has made farming and 
stockraising his business. He has 160 acres here, well developed and 
richly cultivated and has made such substantial improvements that all 
the surroundings are comfortable and a prevailing air of thrift is immedi- 
ately noticed. v 

Mr. Howell was married on February 1, 1912, to Miss Edna Snyder, 
who was born in Champaign County and is a daughter of Monroe and 
Flora (Bowen) Snyder. The father of Mrs. Howell was born in Illinois 
and the mother is a native of Ohio. They reside in Indiana, where Mr. 
Snyder is a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have seven children : Mrs. 
Howell and Eoy, who are twins, and the latter is a resident of Urbana, 
Illinois; Jessie, who is the wife of Floyd Harvey, of Wesley, Iowa; Nellie, 
who is the wife of Ward Euddicil, of Homer; and Mattie, Hazel and 
Herman, all three of whom live with their parents. 

Mr. Howell has never been very active in politics nor has he been an 
office seeker, but he is a careful and interested citizen and has always 
voted with the Eepublican party. He is a Mason of many years standing 
and belongs also to the Loyal Order of Moose. 

JEHU EVERETT DAVIS, a prominent banker and business man of Peso- 
turn, has pursued a very active career ever since leaving school. He repre- 
sents one of the old established families in this section of Champaign, 
County. 

Mr. Davis was born at the village of Pesotum July 4, 1874, a son of 
James Edwin and Lavina (Crawford) Davis. Both parents were born in 
Ohio and came to Champaign County in 1867, locating at Pesotum, where 
they still reside. His father has been in the grain business and in other 
activities for many years. 

The only child of his parents, Jehu Everett Davis was well educated in 
the local schools, and at the age of sixteen entered the Wesleyan University 
at Bloomington, where he pursued special courses for two years. For one 
year he attended the business college at Valparaiso, Indiana. His first 
regular position was with the firm of Baughman, Orr & Company, bankers 
at Tuscola, Illinois, where he remained fourteen months. He then bought 
B. Gardiner's undivided interest in the lumber, implement and harness 
business at Pesotum and was connected with that enterprise seven years. 
Then with his father in 1907 he organized the Bank of Pesotum, the first 
financial institution of the town. On account of failing health he sold 
his interests there and on April 1, 1912, bought from William Kleiss an 
interest in the Kleiss & Gilles elevator at Pesotum. He is still connected 
with the local grain firm of Davis, Burton & Gardiner, though since July, 
1912, his chief time has been devoted to banking. At that date Mr. Davis 
organized the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Pesotum, of which lie is 
cashier. P. J. Gates is president and Henry Pfeffer, vice-president. The 
bank has a capital stock of $30,000 and every year since its organization 
it has paid ten per cent dividends to its stockholders. 

Mr. Davis married October 14, 1897, Loutie G. Gardiner. Mrs. Davis 
was born in Champaign County, daughter of Benjamin and Adeline 
(Coffin) Gardiner. Her father was born in Canada and was an early 
settler in Champaign County. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have three children : 
Mildred, born September 13, 1900; Constance, born February 3, 1903; 
and Helen, born February 15, 1914. 



1016 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mr. Davis besides his very busy life in practical affairs has served as 
township school treasurer for ten years and one of his very active interests 
is his membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church and Sunday school. 
He has been Sunday school superintendent twelve years. He is a Demo- 
crat, a member of the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America. 

MERIT V. CUPPERNELL and his wife, Mary M., were both born near 
Sackett's Harbor in New York State, were married there and in 1870 came 
to Champaign County, Illinois, where they spent the rest of their years, 
performing the duties of their home and private business and also extending 
their influence widely throughout the community. 

On coming to Champaign County Mr. Cuppernell located in Rantoul, 
where he engaged in the milling business. He was at first employed by 
Peter Myers. As the years went by strict attention to business and 
economy enabled him to buy a mill of his own, and he operated that until 
the end of his life. For his permanent home he purchased eighty acres 
of land a half mile southeast of Eantoul, and gave his children an environ- 
ment of the wholesome country atmosphere. He and his wife had nine 
children, four daughters and three sons growing up and two dying in 
infancy. These children were named Addie, Horace, Allie, Delia, Mayme, 
Bert and Arthur. All of them attended district school and also the high 
school at Eantoul. Addie and Allie both completed their studies at 
Eantoul. 

Addie Cuppernell was married in 1882 to Mr. J. B. Martin, a printer 
by trade. In 1889 they moved to Homer, where Mr. Martin for twenty-two 
years owned and published the Homer Enterprise. He was a thorough 
newspaper man and was also public spirited in relation to everything that 
went on in his community. He served in the town council and was one 
of the most devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Homer. 
He liberally supported that church and served it as trustee and member of 
the official board. In 1911 the death angel claimed this worthy man, 
death coming suddenly. He went to his office in the morning and was 
soon afterwards stricken by death. His death marked the passing of one 
of Homer's most capable citizens and his memory is still green in that 
community. Only a day or so before, at the Sunday evening church 
service, he had spoken cordially with most of the members of the congrega- 
tion, and none felt that death was so soon impending. Mr. and Mrs. 
Martin were congenial people and she enjoyed the work of her church as 
much as her husband. For six years she was president of the Ladies' Aid 
Society. Mr. Martin was a fine type of the true American, was affiliated 
with Homer Lodge of Masons, and also with Lodge No. 199, Knights of 
Pythias, and the Tribe of Ben Hur. He died at his post with his armor on, 
and the place of this good man has not yet been filled. A beautiful memo- 
rial service to his memory was held at his old church, and the edifice was 
unable to accommodate the great crowd that gathered to pay their respect 
to his good work. A testimony meeting was also held in the school and 
each child, one by one, arose and told of some kind deed or word by which 
Mr. Martin had benefited them. 

Horace Cuppernell has his home in Urbana. He is a member of the 
Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias. He married Addie 
Carpenter, and their seven children are Abbie, Clarence, Lena, Merit, 
Horace, Thomas and Frank. 

Allie Cuppernell is the wife of Mr. W. E. Trees of Mulberry. He is a 
member of the Knights of Pythias and with his wife worships in the 
Christian Church. 



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HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1017 

Bert Cuppernell had an interesting career in which his energy and 
ambition took him far. For a number of years he held a Government posi- 
tion in the agricultural department at Washington, and by attending night 
school graduated in pharmacy. He died there at the age of thirty-three 
years. He possessed much ability and left many friends to mourn his loss. 

Arthur Cuppernell, who is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, lives 
with his two sisters, Delia and Mayme, at the old homestead. 

Merit and Mary Cuppernell were devout members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church at Eantoul. Fraternally he was a Mason and both he 
and his wife were active in the Eastern Star, as is their daughter Mayme. 
In politics he was a Eepublican. He reared his sons to honor the same 
political party. The parents gave the best of themselves to their children 
and the latter do credit to their rearing. The Cuppernell home has always 
been noted for its hospitality and has been a center for the radiating kind- 
ness of worthy and tender-hearted people. In the last days of the parents 
the presence of their children at. home, Arthur, Delia and Mayme, was a 
source of continual comfort and by their devotion these children were able 
to repay in some measure the care bestowed upon them during their child- 
hood. They relieved their parents of many responsibilities in the conduct 
of business matters, and it is a grateful matter of record that some refer- 
ence to these worthy people, both parents and children, can be included in 
this publication. 

JOHN P. HUDSON is one of Champaign County's most successful farm 
owners and farm managers. He is a young man, and for all his success 
to date has the best years of his life still before him. 

Mr. Hudson was born in Sidney Township of this county November 
12, 1885, a son of Albert and Mary (Deer) Hudson. His father and 
mother were both natives of Champaign County and his father has been 
a very successful farmer and land owner, but is now living retired. The 
mother died in 1893. There were five children in the family : Elsie, wife 
of George Brash, of Decatur, Indiana ; John Poke Hudson ; Sophie, wife of 
Howard Rogers, of Gifford, Illinois; Robert, now deceased; and Jesse, 
of Homer, Illinois. 

John P. Hudson grew up on his father's farm and had the advantages 
of the district schools. When he was twenty years of age he began 
farming as a renter on 200 acres, and after a successful experience there 
for two years went to Ohio and rented a 160 acre farm owned by his 
father. Mr. Hudson lived in Ohio five years and then returned to the 
home place, of which he manages 160 acres and rents eighty acres. In 
improvement and cultivation this ranks among the best kept farms in 
Champaign County. The Hudson home is on Rural Route No. 57 out 
of Sidney. 

Mr. Hudson married an Indiana girl, Miss Iva Murrah. They have 
four children, Vera, Vivian, Vernon and Mary. Mr. Hudson is a Demo- 
crat and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at 
Sidney. 

MARTIN V. MOORE. One of the most interesting old time citizens of 
Homer Township is Martin V. Moore, who when a young man enlisted 
from this county and went out to fight the battles for the preservation of 
the Union, and in all the years since then has maintained the traditions 
of honor that actuated him on many a hard fought battlefield. 

Mr. Moore was born at Eugene, Indiana, a son of Enoch and Adaline 
(Force) Moore. His father was a native of New York State and his 
mother of New Jersey. Enoch Moore when a small boy migrated with his. 



1018 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

family to Indiana. This was in the year 1832. From old New York 
State they traveled by water around the Great Lakes to Chicago, and 
reached that settlement when old Fort Dearborn was still standing and only, 
a short time after the organization of the village of Chicago, which then, 
contained only a few houses. Indians were perhaps more numerous than 
white men, and while the Moore family were there the Indians were 
receiving their last payment from the government. The Indians who 
lived in and around Chicago were great fishers and brought a large quan- 
tity of fish which they sold to the captain of the vessel that brought the 
Moores. Some of the children of this family had never seen an Indian 
before. Martin Moore was one of the five children of his father's second 
marriage and there were also five by the first union. Martin's brothers 
and sisters were Anson B., Jane L., Angeline and Howard. Howard 
Moore when a boy was a student of the late Judge Cunningham of Cham- 
paign County. Judge Cunningham was at that time a young man employed 
as teacher in the school at Eugene, Indiana. Many pleasant recollections 
are retained of this old neighborhood school. -The boys once in a spirit of 
mischief led horses upstairs and it required a long time and much trouble 
to get them down. The boys and girls thought a great deal of Cunningham 
as a teacher and he was very popular. The board urged him to remain for 
another term, but just then he decided to study for the bar. 

When Martin V. Moore was six years of age he lost his father by 
death. The responsibility and care of the children were then thrown upon 
his widowed mother, who did all she could under the circumstances. 

When Mr. Moore was ten years of age M. D. Coffeen, who was a resi- 
dent of Illinois, was making a business visit to Eugene, Indiana. He 
saw Martin Moore down on his knees playing marbles with other boys and 
going up to him pleasantly asked if he did not want to take a ride. Like 
all boys Martin was ready for any adventure that promised novelty, and 
after obtaining the consent of his mother Coffeen brought him down to old 
Homer, Illinois. There he grew up in the home of Mr. Abraham Yeazel, 
Thus was Martin V. Moore introduced to Champaign County in the month 
of May, 1849. 

While growing up he learned the lessons of industry and of good 
thrifty habits, and these were of even more value to him than the lessons he 
learned in school. He was twenty-two years of age when the war clouds 
arose over the country and with his brother Anson B. he enlisted at Homer 
in Company C of the Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry. They were mustered 
in June 1, 1861, and soon went to St. Louis, where they received their 
arms and accouterments from the arsenal. They were next sent to Jeffer- 
son City, Missouri, took part in the engagements at Lexington and Boone- 
ville in the attempt to drive General Price out of the state, later were 
stationed at Holla in southern Missouri, and then had some skirmishes 
around Springfield, Missouri. The first big battle was that of Wilson 
Creek. Mr. Moore was under the command of Captain C. A. Summers, 
and the general leading his brigade was the noted Sigel. It was at 
Wilson Creek that General Sigel was deceived by the Rebel troops coming 
up dressed in Union uniforms and carrying the Union flag. The rebels 
did not open fire until they were quite near and General Sigel was com- 
pelled to retreat. After the next winter at Rolla they were again in the 
field fighting General Price and took part in the battle of Pea Ridge, 
Arkansas, where the Union troops practically sealed the victories of the 
campaign, as a result of which the Confederates permanently lost Missouri. 
In Pea Ridge the forces of which Mr. Moore was a part were nearly sur- 
rounded by the Confederacy. General Sigel, when told that surrender was 
imperative, responded, "I never was beaten." Curtis, then his superior 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1019 

in command, insisted upon surrender, but Sigel interposed, "Give me the 
command and I will whip them- in two hours." Curtis replied, "Take it." 
Sigel asked, "Put it in black and white." The order was written, Sigel 
took command, gave the order for battle, and the result is known to every 
reader of Civil War history. After that Mr. Moore went to Little Eock, 
Arkansas, and soon afterward was sent to Pittsburg Landing to help out 
Grant, who was sorely pressed in that great two days engagement. Dur- 
ing the Tennessee campaign he was at Murfreesboro, in camp for a time at 
Nashville, also at Knoxville, and then spent the winter at Nashville. 
General Bragg had massed a great army at Murfreesboro and General 
Rosecrans, in command of the Federals, moved down upon that point and 
fought the historic conflict known as Murfreesboro or Stone River. Dur- 
ing the subsequent months Mr. Moore covered a large part of Arkansas, 
Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. He was also in the 
early advance through the heart of the Confederacy towards Atlanta and 
the heaviest fighting he ever saw in the war was at Chickamauga. He 
also fought at Missionary Ridge, but before the opening of the Atlanta 
campaign his term expired and he was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, 
September 5, 1864. 

Returning home to Homer Township, Mr. Moore in 1865 married 
Sarah A. Hayes. She was born in Homer Township, daughter of Moses 
and Martha Hayes. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Moore rented a 
farm in Homer Township for two years and then located on land which 
Mrs. Moore had inherited, situated in section 17. Here they undertook 
the task of making a permanent home and had behind them strength, 
courage, hope and industry, so that the future was absolutely unclouded. 

At that time their own land and much of Champaign County was a 
virgin prairie. It was possible to go from their farm to Tuscola without 
seeing a single tree, while one might make a journey from Homer to 
Chicago and never encounter a fence. Mr. Moore, aided by his capable 
wife, has accomplished what he set out to do and has made his particular 
portion of Champaign County truly to blossom as the rose and meet every 
test of fruitfulness and beauty. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Moore were born two children, Abraham and Martin V. 
The son Martin died in infancy. Abraham was educated in district school 
No. 10 and has always lived at home with his parents and is now active 
manager of the old farm. 

In 1895 the death angel came into the home and took away Mr. 
Moore's mother, who had lived with him for many years. 

Reference to his brother Anson B., who was his companion in arms 
during the war, has already been made. Anson was one of the brave color 
guards appointed with five others to guard the color bearer at the battle of 
Missionary Ridge. These color bearers were always a conspicuous object 
to the enemy and the musketry fire was usually concentrated upon the 
standard of colors. In the battle of Missionary Ridge Anson Moore was 
mortally wounded and his brother Martin saw him only once after he was 
wounded until he died. 

Mr. Moore's other brother, Howard, has lived at the Moore home for 
many years. These three brothers, who were deprived of each other's com- 
panionship in boyhood, are united in later days and have found a great 
deal of pleasure and mutual aid in each other's company. 

Politically Mr. Moore is a Republican, and has sustained the principles 
by ballot which he fought for as a soldier. In fraternal matters he is a 
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and his son Abraham 
is enthusiastic in the work of the local lodge and also in the Knights of 
Pythias and the Woodmen. Throughout his service as a soldier Mr. Moore 



1020 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

kept a diary and put down all the interesting things that occurred. This 
diary makes most interesting reading today, and recalls with great vivid- 
ness the many fearful scenes through which he passed as a soldier and it is 
also valuable in that it enables the people of the present generation to 
better understand and appreciate the sacrifices made by those gallant boys 
of the '60s for the preservation of the Union. Mr. Moore, though more 
than half a century has passed since the war, possesses a splendid memory 
and is considered an authority on many old time events of both then and 
of later occurrence. 

FRED A. MESSMAN. The business interests of Broadlands have an 
energetic and progressive representative in the person of Fred A. Mess- 
man, who belongs to the younger generation of men engaged in commercial- 
enterprises in Champaign County. To a very considerable extent it is 
this element in any community, especially outside of the large cities, 
which infuses spirit and zest into the activities of the place. Mr. Mess- 
man is a pronounced type of this class of tireless workers, and during his 
comparatively short career has been identified with agriculture, the buying 
of grain, and the implement and harness business, to which last named he 
at present gives the greater part of his attention. 

Mr. Messman was born in Ayers Township, Champaign County, 
Illinois, April 7, 1886, a son of Charles and Minnie (Dohme) Messman, 
natives of Germany, the former of whom came to the United States at the 
age of fifteen years and the latter as a child. For a number of years 
Charles Messman was engaged in farming in the vicinity of Sadorus in 
Sadorus Township, but at present is retired from active operations and a 
resident of Broadlands,. where he is held in high esteem as a substantial 
citizen. He and his wife have been the parents of the following children : 
Carl, who is engaged in farming in Homer Township ; Albert, a resident of 
Tolono; Amelia, who is the wife of Bobert Smith, of Allerton, Illinois; 
Henry, whose home is in Douglas County; Louisa, the wife of Herman 
Struck, of Eaymond Township, this county; Fred A., of this notice; and 
Marie, the wife of Otto Struck, of Raymond Township. 

Fred A. Messman was given his education in the country schools and 
until he was twenty years of age remained on the home farm. At that 
time he became a renter in Homer Township, where for two years he 
worked a 200-acre farm and subsequently went to Ayers Township, where 
he rented 260 acres. At the end of three years he was able to buy an 
eighty-acre farm in Ayers Township, and to this he has since added by 
industry and good management until today he is the owner of 360 acres, 
which land is being worked by renters. After engaging actively in agri- 
cultural work for some year Mr. Messman became a grain buyer for the 
Broadlands Grain and Coal Company, although he still retained his 
farming interests, and in January, 1917, bought a one-half interest in 
an implement and harness business. He is an exceptionally enterprising 
young man and thoroughly competent in business transactions. The 
honesty of his dealings is fully recognized by his fellow townsmen, and 
although his advent in Broadlands is of recent date, the patronage which 
he enjoys presages a successful future. 

. Mr. Messman was married December 25, 1916, to Miss Ida Marity, 
a native of Douglas County, Illinois. A Republican in his political adher- 
ence, Mr. Messman has taken quite an active part in public affairs, having 
served three years as a member of the town council and being the present 
assessor of Broadlands. He belongs to the Lutheran Church and has 
done his full share in supporting worthy and worth while movements. 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1021 

ARCHIBALD B. CAMPBELL went through a long and thorough appren-. 
ticeship in business affairs, at first as a railway employe, afterwards as a 
newspaper editor and publisher, later as postmaster, and for a number of 
years before his death as a banker at Tolono, where he was one of the 
effective leaders in business and civic affairs. 

Mr. Campbell was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, August 4, 1870, a son of 
Archibald B. and Christina (Stewart) Campbell. His parents were both 
natives of the bonny land of Scotland. The father followed the business 
of contracting for the laying out of estates. He died in the old country 
in 1872. The year following his death the widowed mother brought her 
family to America and joined her sister at Tolono, Illinois. She died 
there October 19, 1916. She was the mother of seven children : Alex- 
ander A., who died April 26, 1888, was cashier of the Bank of Tolono; 
Jennie, wife of G. L. Baker, of Champaign ; Mary, widow of Eobert Leslie, 
living at Pittsfield, Illinois; John, who died at the age of three years; 
William S., who died in Tolono in 1896 ; Peter S., of Urbana ; and Archi- 
bald B. 

Archibald B. Campbell had no recollections of his native land, having 
been brought to America in early infancy. He grew up at Tolono, attended 
the grammar and high schools, and in 1887, at the age of seventeen, began 
earning his own way as a worker for the railroad company. He spent four 
years in the railroad office, and then in 1891, at the age of twenty-one, took 
charge of the Tolono Herald, which he leased for three years and then 
bought the plant. He conducted this weekly journal on a flourishing scale 
for several years. 

July 13, 1897, Mr. Campbell was inducted into the office of postmaster 
at Tolono and served for over six years, finally retiring in December, 1903. 
On February 4, 1904, Mr. Campbell had the responsibility and distinction 
of opening the doors of the Citizens Bank of Tolono. The principal stock-; 
holder of the bank was Mr. Isaac Eaymond, who became the first president. 
Mr. Campbell from the first served as cashier, and the majority of the 
patrons of the institution associated him almost synonymously with the, 
bank itself. 

September 21, 1893, Mr. Campbell married Bertha F. Skinner, daughter 
of A. D. and Sarah (Rich) Skinner. Her parents were both born in, 
Ohio and moved to Champaign County immediately after the war, locat- 
ing on a farm in Tolono Township. Her father is now living retired at 
Tolono, his wife having passed away in 1893. There were six children in 
the Skinner family: Harriet, wife of C. H. Shaffer, of Freeport, Illinois; 
Alice B., wife of J. B. Behymer, of St. Louis, Missouri; Maude 0., wife of 
E. B. Rogers, of Champaign; Mrs. Campbell; Harry M. and William S., 
both at Indiana Harbor, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell had one 
daughter, Florence M., who in 1917 graduated from the University of 
Illinois and is now one of the teachers in the Tolono High School. 

Mr. Campbell was an active Republican, was chairman of the township 
committee and the precinct committee and was formerly town and village 
clerk, and it was largely through his efforts that a model system of water- 
works was established at Tolono in 1895. Tolono now has a water sys- 
tem second in efficiency to no other town of Champaign County. Mr. 
Campbell was chairman of the Champaign County Bankers Association, 
served as master of the Tolono Masonic Lodge five terms, was past chan- 
cellor of the local lodge of Knights of Pythias, was a member of the 
Modern Woodmen of America and attained the Royal Arch Chapter degree 
in Masonry. 

Mr. Campbell passed away August 21, 1917, and he was a citizen who is 
sadly missed by all who knew him. He was interred in Mount Hope Ceme- 

2 32 



1022 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

tery. There are left to mourn his death his wife and daughter of Tolono, 
Illinois. 

HABVEY ALLISON is one of the prominent land owners and agricultur- 
ists in the vicinity of Homer, where he has spent the best part of his active 
career. Mr. Allison knows farming from A to Z and his capabilities have 
been developed by long and thorough experience. 

He was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, January 16, 1870, a son 
of James A. and Willmoth (Dunnivan) Allison. His father was born in 
Indiana and died at Homer July 10, 1899. The mother is a native of 
Vermilion County and is still living on the old home farm. The parents 
removed to Champaign County in 1889. They had only two children, the 
older being Nora, who died January 28, 1892. 

Mr. Harvey Allison has always lived at home, prepared for life by an 
education in the common schools, and gradually took over the manage- 
ment of the farm and he now owns and operates 500 acres on a systematic 
plan of efficiency. He has been successful in spite of several serious set- 
backs as a result of fire. His home was burned in 1903 and in 1913 there 
was another destructive fire which destroyed his barns and silos. Mr. 
Allison has named his farm Piety Knob, and as such it is one of the 
valuable and picturesque parts of the landscape around Homer. He does 
general farming and considerable stock raising. The only important 
interruption to his steady career as a farmer was two years spent in the 
Klondike gold regions of Alaska. That was in 1902-03 and he repre- 
sented a Chicago concern in the development of Placer mines. 

Mr. Allison is a Democrat and a member of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows. He married Miss Alta Eussell, a native of Vermilion 
County. 

MARION M. BICKETTS, M. D. The leading physician and surgeon of 
Ivesdale and well known for his ability and service all over southwestern 
Champaign County is Dr. Marion M. Bicketts, who has enjoyed a success- 
ful practice there for the past six. years. 

Doctor Eicketts was born in Clay County, Illinois, October 20, 1877, a 
son of Jasper and Hannah (Stanford) Ricketts. His father was born in 
Ohio and his mother in Illinois. Jasper Eicketts has had an industrious 
career as an agriculturist and is still living at Pesottim. He moved to 
Champaign County with his family in 1881. The mother had died in 
Clay County before the removal to Champaign County. They had six 
children: Mrs. Emil Andre, of Eaton, Colorado; Harvey, of Vincent, 
Iowa; Charles, deceased; Homer, of Eaton, Colorado; Doctor Eicketts; 
and Lyda, deceased. 

Doctor Eicketts was four years of age when the family came to Cham- 
paign County and grew up on his father's farm, at the same time wisely 
improving the advantages offered in the local schools. His active career 
began at the age of sixteen, when he hired out to work as a farm hand,, 
taught school one year, took the normal course in Austin College at 
Effingham, Illinois, and after that was one of the successful and popular 
teachers of Champaign County for twelve years. Thus Doctor Eicketts 
from his own earnings paid for his professional preparation. In May, 
1911, he graduated from the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery and 
in his last year in college he had considerable practical experience in hos- 
pital work. After getting his degree Doctor Eicketts located at Ivesdale 
and has enjoyed an increasing appreciation of his able services in the pro- 
fession. 

May 18, 1905, he married Elma Pundt, of Tuscola, Illinois. They are 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1023 

the parents of two sons, Frederick J., born March 8, 1912 ; and Marion M., 
Jr., born October 5, 1916. Doctor Ricketts is a Republican, is affiliated 
with the Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and 
his wife are active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

JOHN W. BROWN. From a twentieth century point of view it may 
be difficult to fill out a picture of comfortable living in Champaign County 
in the primitive days when even no railroads reached this section, bringing 
news, commodities and visitors from the outside world, but it must be 
remembered that life is more complex now, that horizons are wider, 
demands greater and expectations higher. Undoubtedly those whose lot 
it was to carve out the pioneer path here and elsewhere ultimately found 
happiness and contentment despite the dangers and deprivations. Among 
the settlers of an early day in Homer Township, Champaign County, was 
John Brown, for many years an honored resident of this part of the 
county and' the father of John W. Brown, one of the substantial men and 
leading farmers. 

John W. Brown was born in Homer Township, Champaign County, 
Illinois, February 2, 1877. His parents were John and Jane (Stafford) 
Brown. The father was a native of Ohio and the mother of Pennsylvania. 
When they came to the county many parts of it were practically unsettled. 
John Brown devoted all his active years to developing his land in Homer 
Township and accumulated 214 acres, a fine property on which all the rest 
of his life was spent, his death occurring March 23, 1913. He had sur- 
vived his wife since 1884. They were the parents of eight children, 
namely: Ellen, who is the wife of John T. Palmer, of Homer, Illinois; 
Austin C., who is deceased; Belle, who is the wife of B. E. Lynch, of 
Sidney, Illinois; Frank, who is deceased; a daughter who died in infancy; 
John W. ; Josephine, who is the wife of Minford Brown, of Goshen, 
Indiana; and another daughter who died in infancy. 

The public schools in Homer Township afforded John W. Brown his 
education and his present farm has been his home all his life. Of the 
homestead he owns seventy-eight acres but his agricultural operations 
cover 146 acres, all of the land being devoted to general farming. He 
works his land carefully and intelligently and is numbered with the most 
successful farmers in the township. 

Mr. Brown was married August 9, 1899, to Miss Emma George, who 
was born in Champaign County and is a daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth 
(Coddington) George, both of whom were born in Illinois and the father 
died here January 26, 1890. He was a well known farmer. The mother 
of Mrs. Brown resides at Homer. Mr. and Mrs. George had five children, 
namely : Nora, who is deceased ; Walter, who lives in Sidney Township ; 
Gertrude, who is the wife of Clement Sanders, of Sidney; Emma, who is 
the wife of John W. Brown; and Benjamin, who lives at Homer. Mr. 
and Mrs. Brown have no children. In politics he has always been affili- 
ated with the Republican party. These old families are widely known and 
are representative people of the county. 

JAMES A. CREAMER, one of the business leaders of Tolono, has lived in 
this locality all his life, began his career as a farmer and still owns a large 
amount of Illinois soil, though most of his time and energies are taken up 
with local business affairs at Tolono. 

Mr. Creamer was born in Tolono Township, February 25, 1870, a son 
of Ephraim C. and Sarah (Espy) Creamer, his father a native of New 
Jersey and his mother of Ripley, Ohio. His mother's father was killed 
by a stroke of lightning about forty-eight years ago. Ephraim Creamer 



1024 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

came to Champaign County about 1857, locating on a farm in Tolono 
Township and followed farming for a great many years but is now living 
retired in Tolono. Through his efforts he accumulated a considerable for- 
tune in land. He and his wife had nine children: Mary, deceased; 
James A.; Edward, who died in 1897, being a graduate of the law depart- 
ment of Wesleyan University at Bloomington; Howard, deceased; Etta, 
wife of F. E. Williamson, of Urbana; Estella, wife of W. W. Hill, of 
Tolono; Lyda, wife of Albert McBratney, of Tuscola; William C., who 
lives on the old home farm ; and Charles F., of Tolono Township. 

James A. Creamer finished his education with the Tolono High School. 
He lived at home until twenty-seven, and then took charge of the home- 
stead of 414 acres. After working that for a time he bought eighty acres, 
sold it and purchased 160 acres east of Tuscola, and finally sold that and 
is now owner of 867 acres in White County, Illinois. 

In 1908 Mr. Creamer engaged in business at Tolono as a grain mer- 
chant with A. H. Edwards. After a year he took over the elevator, ' of 
which he is now sole proprietor. The elevator has a capacity of 40,000 
bushels and it is the center of a flourishing grain trade. Mr. Creamer also 
owns the local garage and has the agency for the Overland, Hudson, 
Studebaker and Ford cars. With Mr. J. A. Hines as a partner he conducts 
an undertaking establishment. All his affairs have prospered and he is 
rightly considered one of the leading men of Tolono. 

On February 18, 1897, Mr. Creamer married Miss Mattie Moore, of 
Pesotum. They have two children : Carl M., born May 1, 1901 ; and 
Helen Alma, born April 28, 1903. Mr. Creamer is a Republican in poli- 
tics. He is a member of the Masonic Order and an active Presbyterian, 
having served as superintendent of the Sunday school three years. 

SOLOMON MANTLE. Of the families whose lives of integrity and indus- 
try have identified them permanently with the best interests of Champaign 
County, one that deserves special mention is that of Solomon Mantle, who 
now lives with his family in Rantoul, and from that village still superin- 
tends his extensive farming interests. 

Mr. Mantle is a son of Isaac and Mary J. (Kuder) Mantle. Mary 
Kuder's father was born in Pennsylvania. Isaac Mantle, a native of Ohio, 
came to Illinois when a young man, lived for a number of years in Cham- 
paign County and afterwards moved to Vermilion County. Solomon Man- 
tle had grown to young manhood before they removed to Vermilion County. 
Isaac Mantle and wife had eight children, four sons and four daughters, 
all of whom were educated in the district schools. Their names were John, 
George, Charles, Solomon, Mary J., Francis M., Lizzie and Alice, two of 
whom died in youth. 

Solomon Mantle was twenty-seven years of age when his father's death 
occurred. He then assumed the active responsibilities of looking after his 
widowed mother and his two sisters. Through the remaining years of his 
mother's life he provided and tenderly cared for her and repaid by filial 
devotion the love and care she had given him and all her children when 
they were young. It was a sad day in the Mantle home on September 3, 
1898, when the beloved mother, after a busy life of industry and toil, was 
claimed by death. The loneliness of the home was keenly felt by those left 
behind, since when a mother dies the light of a home goes out. 

Mr. Solomon Mantle was forty-three years of age when, on October 6, 
1898, he married Miss Alice Shumate, daughter of George and Sarah 
Shumate, both natives of Illinois and reared in the state. Mr. and Mrs. 
Shumate still live in Champaign County. They had seven sons and three 
daughters : Harry, John N., George, Scott, Elmer, Ira, Oliver, Alice, Elsie 




< 






HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1025 

and Ella. The Shumate children acquired their early training in the dis- 
trict schools of Champaign County. Mr. and Mrs. Shumate are devoted 
members of the Christian Church. 

After his- marriage Solomon Mantle and wife settled down on the 
Mantle homestead, which he actively managed. In the course of time there 
came into their home a little daughter to gladden them by the sunshine 
of her presence. She was born March 22, 1900. After attending the 
Kuder district school one year, her parents moved to Rantoul in order to 
give her the better advantages of the schools there. She was of studious 
nature and was graduated with the highest honors from the eighth grade 
or grammar school. As a reward for her excellence in her studies she was 
given a free scholarship in a normal course. She was pronounced the best 
scholar in the eighth grade in the Eantoul school, and during the year 
1916 ranked No. 1 in every month except two in the year. Those two 
months she was hindered in her studies on account of illness. At the 
present writing she is in the first grade of the high school. Besides her 
literary studies she has taken instrumental music, is a capable performer 
on the violin, and is still taking lessons in music from Miss Ida Little. 
She is a member of the High School Orchestra, the orchestra of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church and also a member of the church choir, pos- 
sessing a beautiful and well cultured voice. Mr. and Mrs. Mantle, realizing 
the advantages of a good education, have endeavored to give their daughter 
every encouragement in the development of her talents. 

Mrs. Mantle and daughter are active members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church of Eantoul. Mr. Mantle in politics is a Eepublican and has 
given his support to that party first, last and always. When in 1909 
Mr. and Mrs. Mantle moved to Eantoul they bought themselves a com- 
fortable and attractive residence on Main Street. Mr. Mantle has a tenant 
on the old homestead and still keeps active superintendence over the man- 
agement of the farm and fields. 

On the old Mantle farm there still stands the old log schoolhouse 
where Mr. Mantle's mother attended school when she was a girl. Mr. 
Mantle has taken great pains to preserve this school building as a landmark 
and as a lesson to coming generations, whereby they may see and realize 
some of the hardships through which their forefathers passed. An inter- 
esting relic of the past in Mr. and Mrs. Mantle's home is his Grandfather 
Kuder's clock. It is now 100 years old, and the tired hands that for a 
century pointed the family to the time are at last stilled, and the clock 
stands in the corner, a silent reminder of days long gone by. 

AMBROSE W. STRONG, who is spending the quiet years of his retirement 
in a beautiful home at 706 Main Street in Urbana, is one of the few men 
now living whose recollections go back in Champaign County for nearly 
eighty years. Though not a native of the county Mr. Strong came here 
in early infancy and as a boy he knew many of the first settlers and his own 
life has been closely identified with those changing developments which 
have transformed this part of the state into a garden spot of the world. 

Mr. Strong was born in Hancock County, Ohio, October 4, 1834, a son 
of John and Mary (Moore) Strong. His parents were also natives of 
Ohio. When Ambrose was one year old the family came to Illinois. 
There were six children, three sons and three daughters, Ambrose being 
the oldest. The family located in St. Joseph Township, where they im- 
proved a tract of raw land and where the parents spent the rest of their 
lives. 

Grandfather Cyrus Strong had preceded his son John to St. Joseph 
and was a prominent character among the pioneers. It was his dis- 



1026 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

tinction to erect the notable old tavern known as the Kelley Tavern. It 
was a popular and notable hostelry and a famous landmark of early 
days. Much of the fame that is associated with this tavern is due to the 
fact that Abraham Lincoln frequently was entertained there during his 
career as a circuit riding lawyer attending court at Danville and Cham- 
paign. Lincoln made these trips on horseback, and a personal friendship 
existed -between him and Cyrus Strong. 

Ambrose W. Strong acquired his early education in a district school 
kept in a log building. This was one of the most primitive types of log 
school houses in Champaign County. One log was left out from the side 
of the building and the opening' was covered over with greased paper 
instead of glass window lights. The equipment was equally primitive, 
and the instruction was confined rigidly to the three E's. 

Attending school and working in the fields and meadows made up the 
sum and substance of Mr. Strong's early career until 1853, when he estab- 
lished a home of his own by his marriage to Martha Ann Peters. She 
was born in St. Joseph Township, a daughter of William and Sarah 
(McNutt) Peters. Her peeople were also prominent pioneers of the 
county. Her father, Squire Peters, was a familiar character in the country 
and a very popular man. There were twelve children in the Peters 
family. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Strong rented a farm the 
first year and the second year they bought eighty acres of land, for 
which the purchase price was $6 an acre. With little capital except their 
native industry they entered upon their undertaking with enthusiasm and 
in the course of time had the raw prairies changed into cultivated fields 
and improved their home by gradual additions until it sufficed for all 
their needs. Fruit trees were planted, shade trees also, and the raw 
prairie became a center of good and comfortable living. 

Mr. Strong was an active farmer and continued to be identified with 
the rural districts of Champaign County until twenty-eight years ago, 
when he removed to a residence in Urbana. He built his home on Main 
Street, which he occupies today. At that home in 1894 death came and 
Mrs. Strong entered into rest. She was a woman of many estimable 
qualities and had a large circle of admiring friends. 

For his second wife Mr. Strong married Mrs. Mary E. Smith, widow 
of Elijah T. Smith. Her maiden name was Mary Etta Camerer. She 
was born in Indiana, a daughter of Marcus and Suzanna (Jones) 
Camerer, her father a native of Ohio and her mother of Pennsylvania. 
Mrs. Strong obtained her early education in the district schools. She 
was married at Broadlands, Illinois, to Elijah T. Smith, and of their 
three children two died in infancy, the other being Ray H., who lives 
with Mr. and Mrs. Strong in Urbana. 

Mr. and Mrs. Strong are active members of the University Place 
Christian Church at Urbana. Politically he is a Democrat, and has twice 
supported President Wilson and believes that he is a man of wisdom 
capable of guiding the country through the present world turmoil. 

Mr. Strong as a young man did his duty as a loyal patriot and pre- 
server of the Union. He enlisted in Company C of the Seventy-first 
Illinois Infantry, marched away to the South to Cairo, Illinois, and his 
regiment was chiefly engaged in guard duty around Columbus, Kentucky. 
He was finally mustered out at Chicago and returned home. Mr. Strong 
has many interesting recollections of early times in Champaign County. 
Where his house now stands in Urbana was within his memory a corn- 
field. He used his team and was employed as a contractor during the 
construction of the Illinois Central Railway through Champaign County. 
Even further back, as a small boy, he and his pet dogs were assigned the 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1027 

duty of keeping the wolves away from the geese and sheep which the 
family had brought with them from the East. Mr. Strong has counted 
twenty-four deer in one drove feeding near his father's home, and there 
was much other wild game in abundance. 

Mr. and Mrs. Strong have a hospitable and most attractive home at 
Urbana. One member of the family should not be omitted. That is 
a splendid parrot with beautiful plumage, known as Polly. This parrot 
affectionately calls Mr. Strong "Uncle" and in calling for its bill of fare 
it frequently mentions its fondness for pie. It also whistles and sings 
"Glory, Glory for Polly." 

BELONG BROTHERS. That push and enterprise which take men over 
the heights of success has been the distinguishing quality of DeLong 
Brothers at Sadorus. In the southwestern part of Champaign County at 
least their achievements and their circumstances are almost too well known 
to need special reference, but for the benefit of the more remote sections 
of the county, and also as a record for the future something should be given 
as an outline of their careers. 

The firm consists .of William H. and Edward B. DeLong. Both of 
them are natives of Champaign County and belong to an old and honored 
family. William H. was born in Sidney Township, November 2, 1873. 
The parents were Charles G. and Edna (Moore) DeLong, the former a 
native of New York and the latter of Massachusetts. They came to Cham- 
paign County in 1859, living one year in Philo Township, and the next 
year they spent in Wisconsin. On returning to Champaign County they 
located in Sidney Township in 1861 and brought with them from Chicago 
a flock of sheep, which they drove overland. Charles G. DeLong was a 
successful farmer of the county and died here in 1913. His widow is 
still living at Sadorus. They had eight children : George A., of Foosland; 
C. B., of Fithian, Illinois; Erne M., deceased; Minnie, wife of Eugene 
Burr, of Sidney Township ; Clinton E., of Eocky Ford, Colorado ; Clarence, 
deceased; William H. and Edward B. 

Thus the DeLong Brothers are the youngest of the family. They 
began business as a firm in the grain trade on July 1, 1896, with head- 
quarters at Sadorus. They did not have a dollar of money of their own, 
and it serves to heighten the appreciation of their subsequent success when 
it is remembered that nothing has been given them which they have not 
earned. In order to purchase the local elevator from David Eice they 
gave notes for $5,500, secured by the names of their father, C, G. DeLong, 
and their brothers George A. and C. B. DeLong. They also borrowed 
money from their brothers to buy the first consignment of grain. There 
were many people who wished the young men well, and doubtless there 
were others who were pessimistic as to their future. However, they justi- 
fied the favorable expectations, and in a short time had their credit thor- 
oughly established and owned their plant outright. Since then the busi- 
ness has been growing apace. They have a large amount of money in- 
vested in their elevator, coal house and other local properties and besides 
being grain merchants they have kept in close touch with the great agri- 
cultural industry. The brothers own about 2,700 acres of rich land in 
Western Canada in the Province of Saskatchewan, besides 320 acres in 
Washington County, Mississippi, 320 acres of rice land in Arkansas, and 
several hundred acres in Champaign County. In 1915 they raised a crop 
of over 40,000 bushels of wheat and oats in Canada and in that year and 
1916 they sold their crops on Canada soil for over $60,000, leaving a profit 
of $40,000 for their transactions of two years. At Sadorus DeLong 
Brothers handle an extensive business in grain, automobiles, insurance and 



1028 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

as bankers, and have about fifteen men in their employ and pay out over 
$1,000 a month in wages. 

The Bank of Sadorus is another enterprise of DeLong Brothers, and 
behind it stands their unassailable integrity and financial resources, which 
have been estimated at well upwards of $300,000. The Bank of Sadorus 
was opened for business May 21, 1899. In June, 1917, $181,000 was 
deposited in the bank, amply secured by the reserve handled in several 
state and national banks in Illinois and by the net worth of DeLong 
Brothers, which is considerably more than the total liabilities of the insti- 
tution. 

The chief point of all these details is that DeLong Brothers belong in 
the ranks of the highly successful men of Champaign County, those who 
began on the first round of the ladder and have climbed steadily to larger 
things, their capacities increasing with their opportunities and their ability 
to serve growing with their success. 

William H. DeLong married, June 24, 1896, Lydia Lavenhagen, a 
native of Raymond Township and a daughter of Louis and Theresa 
(Moore) Lavenhagen. Her parents were natives of Germany and in 
1874 settled in Philo Township of Champaign County. In the Lavenhagen 
family were four children : John, of Philo ; Phena, wife of William Anders, 
of Sidney; Wiiliam, of Philo; and Mrs. DeLong. Mr. and Mrs. William H. 
DeLong have two children: Edna Theresa, born June 19, 1897, and Ken- 
neth, M., born October 25, 1907. William H. DeLong is a Republican and 
a member of the Methodist Church. 

His brother Edward married, in November, 1903, Bertha Attebery. 
They also have two children, Clifton Charles and William Wayne. Edward 
DeLong is a Republican, a Mason, a Knight of Pythias and a Woodman 
and is active in the Presbyterian Church. 

GEORGE CLINTON BROWN. When the early settlers came to Cham- 
paign County perhaps few of them realized that they were seeking homes 
in a very desirable part of the state in relation to profitable farming. 
Those who were industrious and frugal had the satisfaction of finding 
this out and no family has been more deserving of its good fortune than 
that founded by the late David Brown and now worthily represented here 
by George Clinton Brown, one of the substantial farmers of Homer Town- 
ship, who is also widely known as a breeder of race horses. 

George Clinton Brown was born in Homer Township, Champaign 
County, Illinois, April 5, 1865, and is a son of David and Eva (Clester) 
Brown. The father was born in Pennsylvania and the mother in Illinois. 
In childhood David Brown accompanied his father to Ohio and later they 
came to Paris, Illinois, having to walk through Champaign County be- 
cause there were no railroads or other public means of transportation at 
that time. The lay of the land and other features in the county made a 
pleasant impression upon David Brown and one year later he returned to 
Champaign, which was then a little settlement of three houses. He went 
on to Sidney, where his uncle was living at that time, and worked for 
him for a time and then returned to Pennsylvania to be married. When 
he returned with his wife they settled in Homer Township, Champaign 
County, and that farm remained their home as long as they lived, David 
Brown dying in January, 1910, his wife having died in 1892. To the 
first marriage of David Brown there were three children born, all of whom 
survive : Basil, who is a resident of Champaign ; Ellwood, who lives in 
Michigan; and Mrs. Thomas Orr, who resides at Homer. The second 
marriage of David Brown was to Eva Clester, who was born in Illinois, 
and eight children were born to this union, as follows: George Clinton; 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1029 

Jeremiah, who died in 1904; Emma, who is deceased; Sadie, who is the 
wife of Simon Stuckey, of Washington Court House, Ohio; Belle, who is 
the wife of Frank Garrison, of Jerome, Idaho; Clara, who is deceased; 
Mary, who is the wife of Archie Cox, of Carmel, Illinois ; and Oliver, who 
lives at Jerome, Idaho. These children were all reared on the farm of 
120 acres situated in section 21, Homer Township. 

George Clinton Brown atttended the township schools during boyhood 
and youth and assisted his father until he was twenty-one years old. He 
then began farming for himself, on a rented farm of eighty acres and re- 
mained there for three years and then bought his present farm of 160 
acres, situated on section 17, Homer Township. Mr. Brown has shown 
good judgment and good taste in the fine improvements he has placed on 
his property. He has made a specialty of breeding race horses for some 
years, and owns the thorough-bred seven-year old mare Redetta, which 
has a record of 2.10. 

Mr. Brown was married September 4, 1889, to Miss Agnes Stewart, 
who was born at Philo, Illinois, and they have had three children : Glenn, 
who is deceased; and Eva and 'Edna, who reside with their parents. 

Mr. Brown has served for many years in public office, having been a 
member of the school board for twenty years and is now in his second 
term as road commissioner, and in many ways is an important and influen- 
tial man in Homer Township. In politics he is a Republican and fra- 
ternally is a Mason. 

HERMAN W. BUNDY, M. D. As a physician and surgeon Doctor Bundy 
enjoys the complete confidence and most of the patronage of the community 
in and around Pesotum, where he has practiced actively for the last five 
years. 

Doctor Bundy is a Kansas man by birth, having been born at Nicker- 
son, March 11, 1879. His parents, Isaac Newton and Helena (Smithson) 
Bundy, were both born in Ohio. His father was an attorney who enjoyed 
a good practice and name as an orator in eastern Illinois, and it is recalled 
that he stumped the district for Joe Cannon when that Illinois celebrity 
made his first race for Congress. From Illinois Isaac N. Bundy moved to 
Nickerson, Kansas, and he died at Hutchinson in that state at the age of 
forty-three. His wife died in 1882. They had three children : Dr. C. D. 
Bundy, of Sadorus; Ralph P., an attorney at Zionsville, Indiana; and 
Dr. Herman W. Bundy. 

Doctor Bundy grew up in the home of his maternal grandparents in 
Champaign County. He was still continuing his studies in high school 
when at the age of eighteen he enlisted with Company M at Champaign 
for service in the Spanish- American War. After he was mustered out he 
returned home and finished the high school course at Tolono. In 1901 he 
entered the University of Illinois, took three years of special work pre- 
paratory to a medical career and then for four years was in the Illinois 
College of Physicians and Surgeons at Chicago, the medical department 
of the State University. He received his degree from that institution in 
1907 and in 1908 began practice at Pesotum with Doctor Hoffman. A 
year later he located at Sadorus, but in 1912, Doctor Hoffman having died, 
he returned to Pesotum and took up the practice of that veteran physician 
and has since become well established in his profession, his name being 
associated with ability and conscientious service all over southwestern 
Champaign County. 

September 29, 1909, Doctor Bundy married Miss Edith Stone, of 
Tolono, where she was born. They have one child, Winford Newton, 
born February 3, 1914. Doctor Bundy is a Republican, a member of the 



1030 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Masonic Lodge, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern 
Woodmen of America, and he and his wife are members and attendants of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

ALONZO S. BRAND. The career of Alonzo S. Brand, whose home is in 
Sidney Township, on Eural Route No. 58, -has been characterized by that 
vim and vigor of achievement which is the admiration of all purposeful 
men. To say that he is a self-made man is hardly doing credit to his 
ability at overcoming difficulties in his way to success. 

Mr. Brand was born in Noble County, Ohio, January 15, 1872, a son 
of Greenberry and Mary (Baker) Brand. His parents were also natives 
of the same county and his father a farmer. Alonzo was the oldest of 
their three children, the youngest, William, being deceased, and the only 
daughter, Olie, being the wife of J. H. McCoy, of Zanesville, Ohio. The 
father of the family died in 1876, when Alonzo was four years old, and the 
other children mere infants. It devolved upon Alonzo to contribute to 
the support of this household as soon as his tender years permitted. As 
a small child he frequently worked out on farms for ten cents a day until 
he was twelve years of age, after which he received $4 a month until he 
was sixteen and then for nine months worked in a general department 
store at $20 a month. Another nine months he spent at the hard labor 
of the coal mines. All his wages went to support his widowed mother and 
the other children. His mother passed away in 1915 and her later years 
were made comfortable largely through his efforts. 

Mr. Brand finally rented eighty acres for a year and following this 
worked in a sawmill a year, and then in a store. From Ohio he came to 
Illinois, locating at Tolono, and arrived there with only seventy-five cents 
in his pocket. He worked out by the month for five years and then began 
a career as a renter which gradually brought him his successful position 
among Champaign County farmers. He bought eighty acres in Clark 
County, but sold that, and then bought 240 acres in Philo and Crittenden 
townships, later purchasing eighty acres more in Philo Township making 
a total of 320 acres. At the present time he owns a fine farm and is 
handling 560 acres on a broadly diversified basis. 

The struggles of his earlier years in supporting himself and his wid- 
owed mother measure only part of the responsibilities he has carried. 
For the past twenty years he has had a home of his own and has been 
rearing and training and liberally providing for a large family of children. 
He married February 24, 1895, Miss Zella Chippendale, a native of Cham- 
paign County. They are the parents of nine children, named as follows: 
Leroy of Philo Township; Gladys; Charles M. ; Earl P.; Fred V.; Ber- 
nice E., who died when four years of age; Irven G. ; Clifford A.; and 
Thurman K., all of whom are living at home except the eldest. The 
family are members of the Presbyterian Church at Philo, Illinois, and 
Mr. Brand is a Republican. 

HERMAN J. BIALESCHKE. For upward of sixty years the Bialeschke 
family has had a prominent part in the farming and business activities of 
southwestern Champaign County. Herman J. Bialeschke came to this 
county when a small child, industriously followed farming for many years, 
has played a very vigorous and public spirited part in local affairs, and is 
now enjoying the comforts of retired life in the village of Sadorus. 

He was born in Germany, July 28, 1855, a son of Frederick and 
Minnie (Nofftz) Bialeschke, who were also natives of the fatherland. In, 
1857, when he was about a year old, the parents came to America, first, 
locating in New York and afterwards in Chicago, and about 1858 settled 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1031 

in Champaign County. His father did farming at Sadorus and for two 
years lived on the farm of the old pioneer, Henry Sadorus. In 1865 
the fruits of his industry enabled him to buy forty acres in section 8 of 
Pesotum Township. In the past fifty years his name has become associ- 
ated with the ownership of some of the best farming land in that township 
and he is still owner of 320 acres. He is now eighty-six years of age and 
his wife is eighty-eight. This venerable couple had eight children, Her- 
man J. being the oldest. Amelia and Hulda are both deceased; Lafayette 
and Albert live in Pesotum Township; Emma is the wife of William 
Bachert, of Pesotum; Martha is the wife of Henry Butzloff, of Indiana; 
and the youngest child, Elizabeth, died quite young. 

Herman J. Bialeschke grew up on his father's home in .Champaign 
County, attended the local schools, and as a youth learned the trade of 
carpenter. He followed that only a brief time and began his real career 
as a farmer on 160 acres of land which he rented. After several years he 
invested his thrifty savings in ninety acres and lived there five years. He 
then bought the rest of his present farm, making a place of 179 acres. 
Still later he bought 160 acres, selling half of it to his brother-in-law and 
trading the other half for 184 acres near Sadorus. Through the efforts 
of many years he found himself possessed of a large amount of valuable 
Champaign County soil. His last purchase was 120 acres in Pesotum 
Township. Since 1912 Mr. Bialeschke has retired from the active busi- 
ness of farming and has lived in Sadorus. 

He married Christina Miller, also a native of Germany, who came to 
Champaign County when a young girl. Mr. and Mrs. Bialeschke had four 
children; Frederick, of Pesotum Township; Lilla, wife of Jacob Krumm, 
of Pesotum; Ida, wife of Alfred Warfle, of Pesotum Township; and Aria, 
wife of Louis Kaske, of Tolono Township. 

The acquisition of a generous material prosperity has not been the sole 
end and object of Mr. Bialeschke's efforts. He has always done his part as 
a citizen, served as township supervisor two years, as road commissioner 
and assessor, for fifteen years was a member of the drainage board, and for 
a similar period was a director in the public schools. He did much to 
perfect the system of drainage in this part of the county. He is a Repub- 
lican and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and is active in 
the Evangelical Reformed Church. 

WILLIAM G. PULTON. The opinion has been expressed that opportuni- 
ties today for the farmer are just as great as they wefe in pioneer times 
when land could be obtained for little or nothing. The career of William 
G. Fulton furnishes testimony in point. Mr. Fulton began his career in 
Champaign County with hardly enough capital to buy a single acre of the 
high priced land of this section of Illinois. He is now one of the wealthy 
and most prominent farmers in the southern part of the county and his 
accomplishments show what a man of determination and iron will may 
achieve. 

Mr. Fulton was born in Raymond Township, January 1, 1870, a son 
of Henry and Eliza (Fulton) Fulton. Both parents were born in Ireland 
but of Scotch ancestry. His father came to America in 1868, locating in 
Champaign County, and spent an active career as a farmer here. He 
died July 9, 1908, while the mother passed away August 9, 1905. They 
were laid to rest in the Woodlawn cemetery in Urbana. They were the 
parents of five children : George, who died in infancy ; Mary, who died in 
1909, married M. M. Want, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church; 
William G.; Jennie, widow of W. T. Gwinn, of Douglas County, Illinois; 
and Thomas, who died in childhood. Mrs. Mary Want was the mother of 



1032 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

four children: Cullen, Ruth, Fulton and Mary Lewis. Her son Cullen 
when a young man was appointed to a cadetship in the Annapolis Naval 
Academy, spent four years there, and four years at sea apprenticeship, 
and has recently been appointed a member of the Construction Board at 
Annapolis and now has charge of the equipment of mine laying boats in 
the present war. The daughter Ruth graduated from the Woman's College 
at Jacksonville and is now the wife of Charles Stewart, one of the instruc- 
tors in the Agricultural College at Urbana. 

William G. Fulton after leaving the district schools attended the 
Normal School at Danville, Indiana, where he was graduated at the age 
of eighteen. For two years he taught school in his home county and then 
began farming. Though he had a capital of less than a hundred dollars 
he courageously bargained for an eighty acre tract of land, and in a few 
years not only had that paid for but began the accumulations which are 
now represented by 420 acres of fine land in Champaign County and two 
farms in Arkansas. Mr. Fulton is both a crop and stock farmer and in an 
active career of about twenty-five years has achieved all the success that a 
man of modest ambition might crave. 

On October 9, 1907, he married Miss Naomi Price, a native of Leb- 
anon, Indiana, and a daughter of David and Ida Belle (Boring) Price. 
Her parents were both born in Ohio and when she was a small child moved 
to Champaign County, locating in Crittenden Township. Mr. and Mrs. 
Fulton have four children: Dale H., Idabelle, Glenn Price and Dean 
George, the last named having been born on the 13th of August, 1917. 

Mr. Fulton is a Democrat in politics. He was formerly connected 
with the First Naational Bank at Philo. An active Methodist, he has 
served as superintendent of the Sunday school and was formerly superin- 
tendent of the County Sunday School Association of Douglas County for 
seven years. He has also been active in school work and served as trustee 
of his local district. 

JOHN T. RIEMKE, one of the leading grain and elevator men of 
southwest Champaign County, began his career in humble circumstances, 
and has raised himself by sheer force of will and determination to a posi- 
tion of independence and influence. 

Mr. Riemke was born in Pesotum Township of this county August 29, 
1877. His parents were Henry and Anna (Richmond) Riemke, his 
father a native of Germany and his mother of England. Henry Riemke 
came to America fn 1854, spending two years in LaPorte, Indiana, before 
he joined the early settlers of Champaign County. He cleared up some of 
the land in this county and was successfully engaged in farming until his 
death in 1905. His wife passed away in 1904. They had nine children: 
Catherine, deceased ; Henry of El Reno, Oklahoma ; Mary, wife of Matthew, 
Miller, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Jane, wife of Joseph E. Lustig, of Cham- 
paign County ; Edward of Pesotum Township ; Alice, wife of John Magsam, 
of Monroeville, Indiana; Anna, wife of M. J. Maley, of Fort Wayne, 
Indiana; John T.; and William, of Douglas County, Illinois. 

John T. Riemke grew up on the home farm, attended the local schools, 
and at the age of nineteen went to work on a farm for J. A. Cramer as 
engineer with the threshing outfit and later as traction engineer with Dosey 
Brothers. He followed threshing as an occupation for eleven years. Later 
he served the firm of Condon & Kleiss in the elevator at Pesotum until 
1905, when he bought Mr. Kleiss' share in the business, and since 1907 
has conducted this elevator under his own name. He buys a large amount 
of the grain raised around Pesotum, and altogether is at the head of a 
prosperous business. 






HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1033 

On February 4, 1904, Mr. Eiemke married Judith Lieb, a native of, 
Champaign County. They have one son, Charles Henry, born January 17, 
1916. Mr. Riemke is a Democrat in politics. He is affiliated with the 
Knights of Columbus and he and his family are members of the St. 
Joseph Catholic Church at Pesotum. 

HENRY BERNARD CLARK. Life is a great drama, and many men play 
various roles and on many stages of activity. Such has been the experience 
of Henry Bernard Clark, a veteran jeweler, now living retired from a long 
business career at Eantoul. 

Mr. Clark is probably the only man in Champaign County and perhaps 
the only one in Illinois whose birthplace was the historic Isle of St. Helena, 
associated in the memories of men chiefly because it was the prison home 
of Napoleon Bonaparte and also the place where he died. He was born 
there, a son of Thomas and Louisa (Lowden) Clark. His father was a 
native of England and the mother was born at St. Helena of Scotch 
parents. When H. B. Clark was a few days old his father died, and 
when he was seven years of age his widowed mother came to America. 
His mother was a school teacher, and the English Government gave her the 
management of the fortified village of Longwood, where Napoleon had 
had his home. A strong guard of English troops had been kept at Long- 
wood while Napoleon was there in order to prevent his escape and foil 
any attempts made by the French to spirit him away from the island. In 
such surroundings Mr. Clark spent the first seven years of his life. His 
brothers were James, Thomas, William and John. He retains many memo- 
ries of his early life at St. Helena. Perhaps the chief incident of his early 
memory was when he and some playmates filled the bathtub in the old 
home at Longwood which the French had built for Napoleon and played 
on the water some ducklings and watched their antics with great enthu- 
siasm. 

Mrs. Clark was an ambitious, energetic mother, and recognizing in the 
advantages of America such as were not found in Europe she came to this 
country hoping to better the conditions of her sons. Her oldest son, James, 
kept the only bakery at St. Helena, and also came to America, but was 
taken ill on the voyage and died three days after landing in New York. 
Her sons William and Thomas took to the sea while at St. Helena, and 
afterward became captains of vessels. Mrs. Clark brought with her to 
America her two sons H. B. and John. The other three sons followed her 
some years later. William became a captain on the Great Lakes, sailing 
a vessel from Buffalo to Chicago. The family were eighty days in making 
the voyage on a sailing vessel from St. Helena to New Bedford, Connecticut. 
From there Mrs. Clark went to Chicago. Her friend, Mrs. Blachford, had 
offered inducements which caused Mrs. Clark to come west with her sons, 
and she took up her home at St. Charles, Illinois, where she educated her 
younger boys. 

H. B. Clark was only sixteen years of age when the Civil War broke 
out. His brothers Thomas and John enlisted in 1861. John was stricken 
with the measles while in the army, and while still convalescent went into 
action at the battle of Pea Ridge. After the strenuous exertions of that 
day's fighting and while stooping to enter his tent at night he dropped 
dead. Thomas was in the Nineteenth Illinois Infantry, was wounded 
three times, and died a few years ago at Chicago. 

H. B. Clark enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment of 
Illinois Infantry and was first sent to Cairo, Illinois, and then into Ken- 
tucky to retard the raid of General Forrest against Illinois. He was with 
the troops that proceeded up the Tennessee River and drove Forrest's cav- 



1034 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

airy back to Memphis. Mr. Clark saw fourteen months of active service 
and witnessed some of the heavy fighting and arduous campaigning in the 
Mississippi Valley. He was mustered out at Memphis, Tennessee, and 
given his honorable discharge at Springfield. He then returned to Chicago. 

In 1873 he married Jessie Person, a native of St. Charles, Illinois, and 
a daughter of James and Mary (Hall) Person. Her father was born in 
New Hampshire and her mother in Vermont. The Person children were 
John H., Mary A., Louisa, Julia and Jessie. They were all educated at 
St. Charles, Illinois. 

After his marriage Mr. Clark set up a home in Chicago, where he had 
become identified with the jewelry business. In 1876 they came to Ran- 
toul and Mr. Clark was continuously engaged in the jewelry business in 
that city for forty years. He finally retired in 1916. 

To their union were born two children, one son and one daughter, 
James P. and Edna. Edna> married Dr. W. J. Fernald, who formerly 
practiced in Champaign County and subsequently removed to Frankfort, 
Indiana. Mrs. Pernald died in Prankfort. There were four children in 
the Fernald family, two sons and two daughters, named Bernice, Mildred, 
Paul and Leroy. Bernice and Mildred graduated from the Frankfort 
public schools. The former is now the wife of Lieutenant Morse of the 
United States army and assistant band master. Their wedding was cele- 
brated at the home of his commanding officer in Hartford, Connecticut. 

The son, James P. Clark, has distinguished himself as a very capable 
and ambitious student and later as a successful lawyer. He attended the 
Rantoul High School, and then entered the law department of the Univer- 
sity of Michigan, where he was graduated LL. B. He is now in successful 
practice at Rantoul and has won a fine clientage. He married Miss Eunice 
Craigmile, a daughter of Alexander Craigmile, a prominent citizen of 
Champaign County, now living at Rantoul. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have two 
bright young daughters, j Elizabeth and Janis. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clark are active members of the Congregational Church. 
She possesses an unusually well cultivated and perfect singing voice, and 
for years sang and took an active part in imusical affairs in various Chicago 
churches and since coming to Rantoul has been an active member of the 
choir of her church. Fraternally Mr. Clark is affiliated with the Masonic 
order, 'the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and 
the Grand Army of the Republic. In this brief review Mr. Clark's long 
and active career has been followed from his boyhood days in St. Helena 
until he is now, with his wife, enjoying, the comforts and happiness of a 
good home in Rantoul and surrounded with children and grandchildren 
and hosts of friends. 

WILLIAM A. COOLLEY. Of the financial institutions of the smaller 
communities of Champaign County, which, by reason of the character of 
their officials and the manner in which their business has been conducted, 
have acquired and held in greater or less degree the confidence of the 
public, one of the best and most favorably known is that operating as the 
Bank of Broadlands, a house which has been builded upon an honorable 
policy and maintained along straight-forward lines. Much of the success 
that has attended this institution has been brought about through the 
splendid business and financial ability of William A. Coolley, one of its 
founders and now its president. Formerly an agriculturist, Mr. Coolley 
is familiar with this part of the country, where he has built up a reputa- 
tion for sound integrity and practical ability. 

Mr. Coolley was born in Douglas County, Illinois, March 4, 1862, 
being a son of John A. and Harriet (Wyckoff) Coolley, the former a native 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1035 

of Indiana and the latter of Ohio. John A. Coolley was for many years 
engaged in farming in Douglas County, where he owned a large and 
valuable property, but after his retirement came to live at Broadlands, 
where he died June 8, 1915, Mrs. Coolley having passed away August 30, 
1903. There were six children in the family, as follows: AVilliam A.; 
Nettie, who is the wife of D. P. Mclntyre, of Champaign ; Luella, the wife 
of A. M. Kenny, of Decatur; Jonathan M., who lives on the farm in 
Douglas County formerly owned by his father; and two boys who died in 
infancy. 

William A. Coolley secured his education in the public schools of 
Douglas County and grew up in an agricultural atmosphere, his boyhood 
and youth being filled with the tasks that train men to become farmers. 
When ready to adopt a vocation he took up the cultivation of the soil as his 
life work, and his energy and industry were rewarded by the accumulation 
of much valuable farming property. Having succeeded in this direction, 
and having become interested in monetary matters, as connected with 
farm loans and other ways, in 1892 he joined Messrs. Kenny and Mclntyre 
in the formation of the Bank of Broadlands. At the time of the organi- 
zation Mr. Kenny, now a resident of Decatur, was made president, and 
when he left that office was succeeded by Mr. Mclntyre. Subsequently 
the latter removed to Champaign, and Mr. Coolley succeeded to the presi- 
dential position, which he still retains. He is rather of the conservative 
type of banker, but has the courage to enter into large undertakings when 
assured that they are absolutely safe and legitimate. His policies have 
served to attract and hold the faith and esteem of the public, and the de- 
positors come from all over the countryside adjoining Broadlands. Politi- 
cally Mr. Coolley is a Republican, but he has only taken a good citizen's 
interest in public matters, and has not cared to have his name used in 
connection with candidacy for public office. His fraternal identification 
is with the Masons. In the civic affairs of Broadlands he has done his 
part to help good movements and to conserve the best interests of the 
thriving little city. 

On October 10, 1894, Mr. Coolley was united in marriage with Miss 
Jeannette Mclntyre, who was born in Ontario, Canada, and to this union 
there has been born one daughter, Anna, who is single and resides with 
her parents. 

ALPHEUS C. SWEARINGEN. At a pleasant home on Sherman Street in 
the village of St. Joseph reside a couple who carry with them many 
memories of Champaign County both old and new and are enjoying the 
declining years of life with comforts and the riches of esteem befitting 
their worthy careers. Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen spent their active lives 
on a farm, garnered many harvests therefrom, reared their children to 
worthy and useful lives, and then gave up their home in the country for 
the one they now occupy at St. Joseph. 

Mr. Swearingen is a native of Champaign County, a son of Andrew and 
Rebecca (Hayden) Swearingen. His parents were among the pioneers 
of this section of Illinois, and around their log cabin home in the early 
days the Indians were frequent visitors. They helped convert the prairies 
and the swamps into arable farms, and had many hardships to contend 
with. 

Alpheus C. Swearingen grew up in a pioneer home and had his edu- 
cation in the public schools. He married Mary Strong, also a native of 
Champaign County, of St. Joseph Township. She is a daughter of John H. 
and Eliza Ann (Rice) Strong. The Strongs were likewise among the 
pioneers, and John H. Strong was a stock buyer for forty years. Mrs. 



1036 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Swearingen's grandparents were John Orange and Nancy Strong, who came 
to Champaign County from Kentucky. At that time Indians were very 
numerous. The family kept large dogs in order to scare the Indians from 
the home while the men were away. The Indians feared the dogs and 
would only come up to the fence, where they would cry "Hoo-Hoo." The 
red men were great beggars and always wanting something to eat. Mr. 
Swearingen's uncle, Christopher Hoff, also lived in Champaign County at ' 
this time. The government had purchased the land from the Indians and 
gave them a certain date to evacuate. The time passed by but the Indians 
were slow about leaving. Mr. Hoff and his neighbors went down to their 
encampment south of the Kelley Hotel on the creek. There were about 
500 Indians. The white men told them the time was up, to which the 
Indians replied "Puckachee, Puckachee," that is, we will go by and by. 
Christopher Hoff spoke up and said, "You puckachee now, time is up." 
The next morning the entire camp had moved West, greatly to the relief of 
the white settlers. Christopher Hoff was a genial, wholesouled man who 
always had some pleasant story to relate, in fact his supply of stories was 
inexhaustible. His memory is still gratefully preserved among the old 
settlers. 

Mr. Swearingen's mother, when a young girl used to work at the old 
Kelley Tavern when Abraham Lincoln, Douglas and other noted men were 
guests. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen started their wedded 
life in St. Joseph Township, the first year renting a farm of his brother, 
V. Swearingen. They had all the elements of character necessary to success 
as thrifty farmers and out of their earnings of hard work they bought their 
first eighty acres, and their first improvement there was a log house with 
hewn logs, comprising three rooms. Some years later, they traded this for 
another eighty acres and Mr. Swearingen entered upon his active career as 
general farmer and stock raiser. He sold many bushels of corn at twenty- 
five cents a bushel and at one time he sold a car load of hogs for $3.10 a 
hundred. After many years of steady cultivation of the soil Mr. and Mrs. 
Swearingen bought their cosy home on Sherman Street in St. Joseph, and 
there they may be found today. Mr. Swearingen is a man of public spirit 
and has served the village ten years as postmaster and also as school 
director. 

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen : Alta M., 
John V., Elza C., Edith E., Lillian 0., Cora A., Chester B. and Leona T. 
Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen took great pains with the education of their 
children and all of them attended the public schools of St. Joseph. Their 
first heavy loss was the death of their oldest child, Alta, at the age of 
twelve years. Their son John V. Swearingen, now an undertaker at 
Champaign and county coroner, married Alta M. Glasscock and they have 
three sons, Paul Vere, Clare and Virgil. Elza C. Swearingen, a farmer 
in St. Joseph Township, married Lutie Eidinger, and their children are 
Orville, Omer, Pearl, Clora, Vern, Margaret, Evalyn, Florence and Vere. 
Edith Swearingen married Otis Cowden, and at her death she left three 
children, named Trevert, Lavelle and Lyle. Lillian 0. died after her 
marriage to Orin Reese and left one child, Glen. Cora A. Swearingen is 
the wife of Fred Cowden and has two daughters, Thelma and Roberta. 
Leona T. Swearingen married Louis Foulk, and their two daughters are 
Neva and Morine. Chester B. Swearingen, the youngest son of the 
family, was educated in the public schools of St. Joseph and from an early 
age his ambition was centered upon the navy. Such a career was his 
leading thought while a boy on the farm, and he talked of it until he 
finally persuaded his father to give his consent, and at Danville, at the age 






HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1037 

of eighteen, he enlisted. For eight years he served his country as a musi- 
cian in the government band, and has been promoted from time to time 
and has made a fine record for himself. His first four years were spent 
on the battleship Virginia, and for the last three years he has been on the 
United States repair ship, now located at Norfolk, Virginia. He has 
visited Paris, London and many other principal centers of Europe. Mrs. 
Swearingen has in her home a pillow with a picture of the battleship and 
the United States coat of arms, bordered with a golden chain and anchor. 
Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen are active members and liberal supporters of 
the Christian Church at St. Joseph. In politics they are ardent Republi- 
cans. Mrs. Swearingen imbibed the principles of that great party from 
her father, a pioneer and most loyal Republican. Mr. and Mrs. Swear- 
ingen, always loyal to Champaign County, have at the same time used their 
means for extensive travel, especially in the western states. They have 
made several tours through the West, visiting Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, 
Bellingham, Washington, and Denver, Colorado. It has been their lot to 
witness the many changes for good made in Champaign County. Both of 
them remember the primitive types of the old time threshing machine, 
operated by horse or cattle power. When they were children the town of 
Champaign did not exist, and nearly all the other marvelous developments 
described on other pages of this history were witnessed before their eyes. 
Mr. Swearingen has as a family relic a fine old Bible which was published 
in Philadelphia in 1825, and is now over ninety years of age and contains 
many interesting items concerning the family history of the Haydens. 

JAMES P. YEAZEL. In the fertile agricultural country of Champaign 
County there are found many men who have passed their entire lives 
within its borders and have won success and standing. In this class is 
undeniably James P. Yeazel, who is now carrying on agricultural opera- 
tions in section 8, Homer Township, which has been his home for nearly 
thirty-one years. He was born in this township, here received his training, 
both educational and agricultural, and here has passed his entire career, 
winning straightforward success with honor, and a strong place in the 
confidence of his fellow citizens. 

Mr. Yeazel was born February 14, 1847, on the old Yeazel family 
homestead farm in Homer Township, a son of Adam and Maria (Crable) 
Yeazel, natives of Ohio. His father came to this community at a very 
early date in the history of the county, and, locating in Homer Township, 
took up land and applied himself to the cultivation of the soil. He con- 
tinued to be engaged in farming during the remainder of his life, but 
did not live to enjoy the success which his industry and good manage- 
ment merited, as his death occurred in middle age, June 1, 1852. Mrs. 
Yeazel survived him for a long time and passed away in Homer township 
in 1886. There were ten children in the family, namely: Eliza Jane, 
Sarah, John and Mary, who are all deceased ; Elizabeth, who is the widow 
of Captain Zeblin Hall, who earned his title while serving with Company 
C, Twenty-fifth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil 
War; Isaac, deceased; James P.; William, of Tazewell County, Illinois; 
Wallace, of Homer; and Abraham. 

James P. Yeazel attended the district schools of Homer Township 
and was brought up to be a farmer, the only vocation which he has ever 
followed. Until five years after his marriage he remained with his 
mother, for whom he operated the home farm, and then purchased a prop- 
erty of his own, 100 acres on section 8, Homer Township. To this 
original purchase he has since added, and he is now the owner of one of 
the valuable farms of the township, a -tract noticeable for its many fine 

233 



1038 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

improvements, its good buildings and its general prosperous condition. 
Mr. Yeazel carries on his operations along modern lines, and is quick to 
note the value of innovations. In his conduct of his business transactions 
he has always been upright and honorable, and as a result has gained a 
position where his fellow citizens place their trust and confidence in him 
and consider his word as something as valuable as his bond. His opera- 
tions in farming have been general in character, and as he is equally 
skilled in all departments his property shows a well-balanced success. 

Mr. Yeazel was married December 11, 1878, to Miss Lucy A. Taylor, 
of Vermilion County, Illinois, and one daughter has been born to this 
union; Ethel M., who is now the wife of Barton Parrish, of Allerton, 
Illinois. Mr. Yeazel. is a Republican, but takes only a voter's part in polit- 
ical affairs. He belongs to the Masons and the local lodge of the Modern 
Woodmen of America, and he and Mrs. Yeazel belong to the Presbyterian 
Church. 

FRED J. HOLL, who has lived in Champaign County for half a century, 
having grown to manhood here, has made his career chiefly that of 
merchant, and is proprietor of one of the oldest and most completely 
stocked mercantile establishments in the village of Sadorus. 

Mr. Holl in his career has exemplified the sturdy virtues of the German 
fatherland, where he was born December 16, 1861, a son of Fred and 
Christina (Kreager) Holl. His parents immigrated from the father- 
land in the spring of 1867, bringing their little family to Champaign 
County and locating on a farm in Pesotum Township. Here the farmer 
industriously pursued his career as an agriculturist until his death in 
1897, being survived by his widow until 1903. Fred Holl, ST., was honored 
with several minor township offices and was a splendid citizen. There 
were five children in the family: Fred J., William, of Pesotum; Augusta, 
wife of A. J. Nofftz of Champaign; Henry W., of Sadorus; and Benjamin 
C., of Pesotum Township. By a previous marriage the mother had a son 
Charles, now deceased. 

Fred Holl grew up on his father's farm in this county and was twenty- 
eight years old when he started out to make his own way in the world as a 
farmer. He did farming two years and then engaged in the general mer- 
cantile business at Sadorus with George Luhrsen. They were partners 
three years and then Henry Holl, brother of Fred, bought the interests of 
Mr. Luhrsen and the business grew and prospered under the joint enter- 
prise of the Holl brothers for eighteen years. At the end of that time 
Fred Holl bought out his brother and has since been sole proprietor of the 
fine two-story modern brick store that is a center of trade for a large 
district in the southwest corner of Champaign County. 

Mr. Holl married, August 19, 1894, Emma Rahn, a native of Pesotum 
Township. They are the parents of a family of four children: Clarence 
A., Edna, Everett and Alfred. 

Besides his very busy career Mr. Holl has found time to serve as tax 
collector of Pesotum Township and as a member of the town board. He 
is interested in Democratic party affairs, and is a regular worshiper in the 
Lutheran Church. 

JAMES J. FREEMAN, of Homer, represents the second generation of a 
family that has played a worthy part in the affairs of Champaign County 
for over sixty years, and he is managing with thrift and a high degree of 
prosperity a fine farm in the locality where he was born. 

Mr. Freeman was born in Champaign County, May 27, 1858. His 
parents were Thomas and Nancy {Redman) Freeman, the father born in 






HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1039 

Ohio and the mother in Illinois. His father was one of the early agri- 
culturists in this county and died in Champaign County in 1910, while 
the mother died here in 1902. Both of them died in the month of April 
and their birthdays were in the same month. There were six children: 
Mary M., deceased; Edmund E. of Ogden, Illinois; John T. of Homer; 
James J. ; and William and Margaret, both of whom died in infancy. 

James J. Freeman lived with his father until he was twenty-five years 
of age, and in the meantime had the advantages of the local schools and 
also a training which well fitted him for the responsibilities he has later 
assumed. At the age of twenty-five he bought a farm, subsequently hav- 
ing a brief mercantile experience in Homer, then returned to the farm, 
and for another short period was engaged in the lumber business at 
Homer. Mr. Freeman owns 110 acres of the old homestead of 280 acres, 
and also has a quarter section north of Ogden. His business is stock and 
grain farming and he has brought about many improvements and much 
increased productiveness on the land which he helped work as a boy. 

Mr. Freeman married Flora E. Yount, a native of Vermilion County. 
Three children were born to their marriage: Cleavie, who died at the age 
of four years ; a daughter that died in infancy ; and Gordon A., at present 
in Battery C, Seventeenth Field Artillery. Mr. Freeman is independent 
in politics. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the family are 
members of the Presbyterian Church. 

BENJAMIN M. CUSTER, of Homer, where he lives retired, is now serving 
as township supervisor. His main business in life has been farming, and 
he still owns a fine place in Champaign County, where the family were 
among the pioneer settlers. Mr. Custer is one of the many men in Cham- 
paign County who have won financial independence through the avenue of 
agriculture. 

He was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, January 23, 1852, a son 
of Jacob M. and Elizabeth 0. (Ochiltree) Custer. His parents were both 
natives of Virginia, and they came to Illinois in 1848, locating in Vermilion 
County. In 1856, soon after the village of Homer was started on the 
newly completed Wabash railroad, the family moved to that town and 
Jacob Custer erected the first hotel in Homer. After managing it for 
three and a half years he turned to farming and in that occupation spent 
his life until his death on September 13, 1865. His widow survived him 
until November 1, 1899. They were the parents of nine children, the 
record of each being briefly stated as follows: Margaret, born October 6, 
1834, died November 5, 1843; Martha E., born September 4, 1836, died 
April 14, 1907; Mary E., born October 10, 1838, is the widow of James 
Hays, of Chicago ; William C., born January 8, 1841, died April 8, 1899 ; 
John M., born April 26, 1843, died August 12, 1913 ; James F., born May 
27, 1845, died May 18, 1862; George W., born September 5, 1847, died 
September 6, 1848; Jacob A., born February 24, 1850, is still living at 
Homer; and the youngest is Benjamin M. 

Benjamin M. Custer spent his early life in and around Homer, secured 
his education in the public schools and was on the home farm as a factor 
in its work and management until 1877. In that year he rented ninety 
acres of the home place, and after his mother's death he bought the entire 
farm. After forty years of continuous work as an agriculturist Mr. Custer 
retired and in 1912 bought his comfortable modern home on South Main 
Street at Homer, where he now spends his time. 

Mr. Custer is a Eepublican in politics and on that ticket was elected 
to his office as supervisor. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America and the Knights of Pythias and the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



1040 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

He married 'Miss Carrie Radebaugh, a native of Pennsylvania. Two 
children were born to their marriage, Harry, the older, dying in infancy. 
Oral B., the only daughter, is the wife of W. F. Barton, a Champaign 
County fanner. 

OSCAR J. HENDEBSON. Many years of association with the agricul- 
tural interests of Champaign County have given Oscar J. Henderson a 
recognized position among the husbandmen of Homer Township, where 
he now has a well cultivated property of 110 acres. He has passed his 
entire career within the limits of the county, and is known as a skilled 
tiller of the soil and as a citizen who gives his aid and influence to worthy 
civic measures and movements, while his business record is a clean one 
and his success in life has been cleanly and fairly won. 

Mr. Henderson was born on the home farm in Homer Township, Sep- 
tember 1, 1872, and is a son of William and Nancy J. (Hoff) Henderson. 
His parents, who were natives of Montgomery County, Indiana, came to 
Champaign County in 1867, in which year they located on a farm in 
section 19, Homer Township. William Henderson was an industrious 
and enterprising man, who, starting life with energy and ambition as his 
only capital, worked out a splendid success for himself and won well 
deserved notice in the locality in which his home was made. His death 
occurred February 7, 1896, while Mrs. Henderson, a woman of many 
estimable qualities, survived him until March 12, 1901. In addition to 
his farming operations William Henderson was for several years one of 
the pioneer school teachers of Champaign County, being a man of supe- 
rior education. He did not enter public life, but was an influence in pro- 
moting and fostering beneficial movements and had his fellow-citizens' 
esteem. He and his wife were the parents of six children: Minnie, 
Edgar and Alice, who are all deceased; and Oscar J., Emma and Alma, 
who reside at home. 

The district schools of Homer Township furnished Oscar J. Hender- 
son with his elementary education, following which he attended the Homer 
High School for two years. When he started upon his career he adopted 
teaching as his vocation, but after spending two years in the schoolroom 
decided that farming was his particular forte and accordingly returned to 
the home place, which he has since been conducting with splendid success. 
He carries on general farming and stock raising, and the prosperity which 
has rewarded his efforts would seem to indicate that he is both a skilled 
agriculturist and a good judge of live stock. The property consists of 110 
acres, and is under a high state of cultivation, with modern improvements 
and a good set of buildings to enhance its value. The modern home is 
located on Homer Rural Route No. 60. Mr. Henderson is unmarried and 
lives with his two sisters. He is a Republican in politics, although not 
actively identified with political affairs save as a voter, while his fraternal 
association is with the Tribe of Ben Hur and his religious membership is 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He has many friends in the com- 
munity who have Watched his upward progress with much interest. 

JACOB REDMON. In these days when the American nation is, once more 
girded for battle, the people pay increasing honor and respect to the com- 
paratively few survivors of that great struggle of fifty years ago when the 
object was the destruction of the institution of slavery as it is now the 
abolition of autocratic governments from the face of the earth. 

One of the veterans of that war against slavery living in Champaign 
County is Mr. Jacob Redmon of Ogden. He has lived to attain and pass 
the age of three quarters of a century and practically all his life has been 






HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1041 

spent in Champaign County. He was born near Sidney, Illinois, in 1841, 
a son of Isaiah and Mary (Thomas) Eedmon. His father was a native of 
Pennsylvania. He was only a small child when his mother died, and he 
grew up practically among strangers near Homer. Jacob Redmon had 
one sister, Elizabeth, who became the wife of Gersham Wright. 

Jacob Redmon was twenty years of age when war broke out between 
the North and the South. One day he was attending Sunday school at 
the old Cottington schoolhouse. At this session of Sunday school there 
was also present Lieutenant Ed Hall. The lieutenant had in his pocket a 
company roll and young Redmon before the session was over asked Hall 
to put down his name for enlistment. He was mustered into service at 
St. Louis, Missouri, the same year and thus responded to the first call for 
three years men to put down the rebellion. As a member of Company C 
of the Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry he was sent with his comrades to 
Jefferson City, Missouri, and soon took part in that great campaign 
through southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, which was one of the 
hardest blows struck at the Confederacy: He fought in the battle of Pea 
Ridge and other engagements of that campaign until Price and the Con- 
federate forces were driven out of the country. The regiment then crossed 
the Mississippi and took part in the siege and battle of Coriijth, and later 
in the tremendous fighting of Stone River at Murfreesboro. Then followed 
almost continuous fighting through Tennessee, Kentucky and northern 
Georgia, and for three years Mr. Redmon endured the hardships and 
dangers of army life without a murmur. He was in part of the great 
Atlanta campaign, fighting at Peach Tree Creek, Kenesaw Mountain, 
Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, but before the 
campaign was over he was relieved from duty on expiration of his enlist- 
ment and returning home was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois. 

With a record made as a veteran soldier, a distinction that will be 
cherished by his descendants in all generations, he returned to the old 
place near Homer where he had spent his boyhood days. There in 1867 
he married Miss Minerva Anderson, who was born near Danville, Illinois. 
They took up their home on the farm of his aunt, Elizabeth Redmon, near 
Homer, but after two years the death angel visited the home and Mrs. 
Redmon entered into rest in 1869. The only child of the union, Robert 
Redmon, died at the age of eighteen months. 

In 1871 Mr. Redmon married Lovica E. Fowler. She was a native of 
Ohio, daughter of George and Miranda (Butts) Fowler. Her father died 
before she was born and when she was six years of age her mother passed 
away, so that she grew up in the home of her grandmother in Indiana. 
After the war the family moved to Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Redmon began 
their wedded life near Homer, where for six years he operated a sawmill. 
He then came to Ogden, where he has had his home for a long period of 
years. He was first engaged in the trade of plasterer and brick layer, but 
for twenty years followed harnessmaking as a trade and conducted a shop 
which was the center of a large and flourishing business. 

Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Redmon, Ulysses Vernon, 
Bertha Florence, Oscar, Cora Elizabeth, Frank M., Harry E. and Nellie. 
The son Oscar died at the age of twenty years. These children were given 
the advantages of the public schools of Ogden. Ulysses, the oldest, lives 
at Rockford, Illinois, and by his marriage to Mary Richards has two 
children, Hazel and Merle. The daughter Bertha is the wife of William 
Hasty, a clerk at St. Joseph Village, and their children are Fern and 
Harold. Cora E. married Dell Strong, a poultryman at Fithian, Illinois. 
They have a household of five children, Gladys, Goldie, Arthur, Wayne 
and Rema. Frank M. Redmon is a printer by trade and lives at Bloom- 



1042 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

ington, Illinois. He married Bertha Peters and has a daughter Laneva. 
Harry Eedmon is a harness maker by trade living at Urbana, and by his 
marriage to Pearl Barnhart has three children, Carl, Clyde and May. The 
youngest child, Nellie, is the wife of Fred Priblo, a farmer near St. Joseph. 
They have one son, Darwin. 

Mr. and Mrs. Redmon have for many years been sustaining members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Ogden. In politics Mr. Redmon has 
never deviated from the principles which he supported in casting his first 
vote. This vote was given to Abraham Lincoln in 1864, about the time he 
returned from his army service. Mr. Redmon fought as a soldier for the 
triumph of the principles advocated by the Republican party at the begin- 
ning, and has kept his allegiance true through all the half century that 
has followed. His career in civic affairs and in business life has been as 
straightforward and honest as his early service in following the flag was 
steadfast and courageous, .and the years have brought him abundant 
success and community esteem. He has served as member of the town 
board of Ogden, and in his later years he and his good Christian wife have 
enjoyed the pleasures of a good home in the village and the associations 
of a fine family and many friends. 

SAMUEL LIVINGSTON is of -.the pioneer element of Champaign County. 
He came to this region sixty years ago. It was nearly sixty years ago that 
he and his young wife began the battle with existence on some of the broad 
and : virgin prairies of this section, and what they endured, what they 
achieved, the family that grew up around them, and the riches of esteem 
that were paid to them by their neighbors is worthy of something more than 
passing record. 

Now living retired, Mr. Livingston since the death of his wife has 
found a home of every comfort for his declining years with <his daughter, 
Mrs. Rosa Lee, Donovan, on Congress Avenue, in Rantoul. Samuel Liv- 
ingston was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, one of the ten children 
of John and Margaret (May) Livingston, who were also natives of the 
Old Dominion. When he was two years of, age his parents moved to Mont- 
gomery County, Ohio, near Dayton. He grew up there and acquired his 
education in the local schools. At the age of twelve years he left home 
and worked for ;his board and clothes, and when he was fourteen he hired 
out for $3.50 per month and performed a man's work. He hauled as much 
cordwood to the town as his employer. During that time he would go home 
on Saturdays and carry the mail bag six miles, walking the distance. He 
always worked out by the month. At the age of twenty Mr. Livingston 
went still farther west, locating near Terre Haute, Indiana. He was there 
two years and in 1855 arrived in Champaign County, Illinois. Then fol- 
lowed a period of capable industry and hard work as a hand on the 
Genung farm. He worked for Mr. Genung one year and then bought 
twenty-one head of oxen and operated three breaking teams, breaking 
prairie for $3 per acre. He estimated that he broke 1,000 or more acres 
of prairie in the neighborhood. He went through severe hardships during 
that time. He carried an ox yoke on his /shoulder on horseback ten miles 
to Rantoul, in many places wading through sloughs and basins of water 
two feet deep at times. With his oxen he worked all day long and during 
the hot part of the season he would get up at 3 o'clock in the morning 
and let his oxen , graze until light enough to see to plow. He had a bell 
on one so they could not stray away. On one job of breaking where he 
boarded the people were very poor and they had to eat off of dry goods 
boxes and sleep on the floor. There were seven of them all lying in a 
row on the floor. When the owner of the land, which was ten miles 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1043 

away, went with him to look at the work they only had one horse. One 
would ride a mile or two, then hitch the horse to some rosin stalks until 
the other caught up, then he would walk. When they reached their desti- 
nation it was about noon, and they both had to eat off of one plate on a box. 
Some of them had to eat with their jackknives. Mr. Livingston worked 
steadily four years, saved his wages, and all the time had an eye to the 
future. 

In 1859 he went back to Indiana, where he had left his sweetheart, 
Miss Letitia Shores. She was born in Indiana, a daughter of Meredith and 
Frankie L. Shores. 

The father of Mrs. Livingston, Meredith Shores, had traveled all the 
way on horseback from North Carolina to New Goshen, near Terre Haute, 
Indiana. He was a young man at the time and was viewing out a place 
for a future home. One night he stopped at a farmhouse. All the family 
were out in the fields except a daughter, Frankie Tizer, a seventeen-year- 
old maiden, who was preparing dinner and going about her work with a 
great show of industry and energy. The principal and, to the young trav- 
eler, the most attractive part of the food was a loaf of corn bread which 
she was baking in an old-fashioned skillet at the open fireplace. As the 
tired and hungry traveler looked at the loaf he thought that he could eat 
it all, and at the same time with hunger there entered into his heart a desire 
to win and have the beautiful young cook for his bride. He was invited 
to dine after the fashion of pioneer hospitality that then prevailed, and 
while the bountiful but simple meal soon appeased his hunger, his love for 
the young girl strengthened and increased. The acquaintance thus begun 
ripened into love and ended with wedding bells. Meredith Shores lived to 
the age of forty-eight, but his wife, Frankie, attained the venerable age 
of ninety-seven. The energy which she displayed on that day when her 
future husband arrived at her home was characteristic of her entire life and 
she proved a very excellent manager and developed a splendid character of 
true womanhood. 

When Samuel Livingston returned with his bride from Indiana he 
rented the Genung farm and conducted it for five years. He had the 
qualifications which make the successful man in every sphere and in time 
he and his wife were able to buy eighty acres, and later forty acres more, 
making them the owners of 120 acres, seven miles northwest of Eantoul. 
They paid $13 an acre for this land, but many years later they sold it 
for $225 an acre. In 1882 they left the farm and removed to Rantoul. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Livingston were born six children : Ida M., War- 
ren B., Rosa Lee, Minnie B., Cora E., Charles R. These children had 
the advantages of a good home and also attended the Maple Grove district 
school and the high school at Rantoul. Warren B. also attended school at 
Paxton, Illinois, and the Terre Haute Business College. Ida M. Livingston 
married Josiah Chaney, a farmer, and their home is in Burns, Kansas. 
Their five children are named Cora R., Ivaloo, Marian, Wilbur and Freddie. 
Rosa Lee married William B. Donovan, a painter and decorator at Rantoul. 
They have a daughter, Rena May, who was educated partly in Chicago and 
partly in the high school at Rantoul, and is now the wife of Edgar J. 
Burns, a resident of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Burns have two children, 
Leroy B. and Edgar Dale, these being great-grandchildren of Mr. Samuel 
Livingston. Minnie B. Livingston married Professor Harold Lawrence, a 
resident of Yakima, Washington. Charles R. Livingston, who lives at 
Chrisman, Illinois, and is editor of the Chrisman Courier, married Nellie 
Murphy, and they have a daughter, Deniza Fayelle Livingston. 

The usual assortment of joys and sorrows came to the Livingston 
family, and death took away the children until the only ones now living 



1044 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

are Charles and Rosa Lee. The good mother passed away in 1913. 
Through her long life she had endeared herself to a large community by 
her Christian neighborliness and kindness, and she entered into rest with 
the benedictions of her family and friends. When her health began to fail 
her daughter, Mrs. Donovan, removed to Rantoul from Chicago and care- 
fully nursed her through her last illness. Later Mr. and Mrs. Donovan 
built for themselves a commodious bungalow on Congress Avenue in Ran- 
toul and here, with every comfort and the companionship of his devoted 
daughter, Mr. Livingston is spending his last days. 

Both the Livingston and Donovan families are active members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Rantoul. Samuel Livingston has long 
been a regular voter of the Democratic ticket. Mr. Donovan usually sup- 
ports the principles of politics rather than the party. In his younger years 
Samuel Livingston served eighteen years as constable of Rantoul. 

Few families have been more closely identified with developing Cham- 
paign County over a longer period of years than the Livingstons. When 
Mr. and Mrs. Livingston first settled here the land was raw prairie. They 
bore the hardships with patience and perseverance and their labors were 
eventually crowned with success. When Mr. Livingston broke his prairie 
land, following the oxen back and forth over the fields, the wolves would 
frequently appear and at a safe distance follow him and the animals up 
and down. Both in the earlier years and later the Livingston home was 
noted for its hospitality. No needy person was ever turned away from 
the door uncared for. 

MATHEW L. YEAZEL. One of the old and honored families of Cham- 
paign County is that which bears the name of Yeazel and which has been 
represented here for more than three-quarters of a century. Its members 
have been mainly engaged in agricultural pursuits and have been noted 
for their honorable and upright dealings and their good citizenship. A 
worthy representative of the name is found in the person of Mathew L. 
Yeazel, who for nearly sixty years has been a resident of Homer Town- 
ship, where he is now carrying on operations on the Old Homestead farm. 

Mr. Yeazel was born on the farm to the supervising of the operations 
on which he now devotes his attention. This is located in section 7, 
Homer Township. He was born June 12, 1858, a son of James and 
Mary Maria (Spencer) Yeazel, natives of Ohio. James Yeazel came to 
Champaign County in March, 1840, and from small beginnings grew to 
be one of the most substantial farmers in this part of the county, having 
accumulated a property of 640 acres and various other holdings, including 
realty and business interests. Also he was prominent in the affairs of 
his community and was frequently elected to office in the township, where 
he held, among others, the position of township supervisor. Mrs. Yeazel 
died when her son Mathew L. was eight years of age. The children were 
as follows: John and William, deceased in infancy; Alice, who is the 
wife of Hugh O'Neil, of Homer ; Abraham and Abigail, who are deceased ; 
Mathew L. ; and Inez, the wife of C. G. Squires, of Indianapolis, Indiana. 

The public schools of Homer Township furnished Mathew L. Yeazel 
with his education, and his boyhood and youth were spent on the home 
farm, where he assisted his father. Married at the age of twenty-one 
years, at that time he began operations on his own account on a rented 
farm of eighty acres, on which he lived 'for five years, and at the end of 
that time rented another property, one of 160 acres, and spent a like period 
thereon. In the meantime his father had died, and his father-in-law had 
purchased 260 acres of the present farm. Two years later he passed away, 
leaving his son-in-law and daughter 225 acres, and when Mr. Yeazel settled 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1045 

thereon he named it the Old Homestead farm, in honor of his and his 
wife's parents. He is now engaged in general farming operations, but 
more as an overseer than as an active worker, and is recognized as one of 
the skilled and substantial agriculturists of his community and a business 
man of ability and honor. 

Mr. Yeazel was married October 9, 1879, to Julia E. Smith, a native 
of Champaign County and a daughter of Mortimer and Jennie (Tresler) 
Smith. Mr. Smith was one of the prominent men of Homer Township, 
having started the second tile manufacturing plant in the State of Illinois, 
and he died a very wealthy citizen, passing away May 21, 1906. He and 
his wife were the parents of eight children: Julia E., the wife of Mr. 
Yeazel; Clara, deceased; William, a resident of Homer; Mary, the widow 
of Byron S. Poisal, of the Auditorium Hotel, Chicago; Jennie, the wife 
of Wyley C. Wamsley, of Long Beach, California ; Nellie, who is deceased ; 
Charles, of Danville, Illinois ; and Harry J., of New York. Mr. and Mrs. 
Yeazel have had four children: Estella J., who is the wife of Charles 
Havard, of Homer ; Jennie, who met death as an infant by burning ; Nellie 
M., the wife of C. V. Davis, of Sheridan, Wyoming; and Lelia, the wife 
of Owen Johnson, of Marshfield, Indiana. Mr. Yeazel is a Republican, 
and his influence is felt in fraternal circles, he being a member of the 
local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of 
Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. His religious connection 
and that of Mrs. Yeazel is with the Presbyterian Church. 

Ross A. FLATT represents the younger and progressive business element 
of Champaign County, and in many ways has shown his splendid capabil- 
ities in business affairs. He is a son of A. J. Flatt, the well known grain 
and general merchant at Leverett, concerning whom further mention is 
made on other pages. 

Ross A. Flatt was born on his father's farm in Somer Township of 
Champaign County April 10, 1890. He grew up on the farm, attended 
the common schools and finished his education in the Champaign High 
School. When his school work was finished he began assisting his father 
in the business at Leverett, and gradually acquired a thorough and detailed 
knowledge of general merchandising, grain and farm implement trade. 
In 1909 he became a partner with his father under the name Flatt & Son, 
and their store, elevators and other activities constitute a bulk of the 
business transacted in the community at Leverett. 

Mr. Flatt was married to Ella S. Roberts, daughter of Joseph B. and 
Elizabeth Roberts of Somer Township. They have one son, now three 
years of age, Ross, Jr. In politics Mr. Flatt is a Republican, and is 
affiliated with Urbana Lodge No. 991 of the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks. 

J. B. BENSYL. The Bensyl family came to Champaign County in 
pioneer times, and one of the number is Mr. J. B. Bensyl, now in business 
at Ogden. His active career has been spent in the county, and he was born 
in St. Joseph Township May 9, 1855. 

He was the fourth in the family of nine children born to Lewis and 
Mary (Corray) Bensyl. His parents were both born in Ohio, and each 
was two years old when their respective families came to Illinois. Lewis 
Bensyl and wife were married in this state, and Lewis Bensyl was long a 
prominent figure in the life of this county. 

J. B. Bensyl grew up at home and attended with his brothers and sisters 
the Clark school a mile north of Mayview. When not in school he assisted 
his father on the farm, and at tire age of twenty-two he married Miss Mary 



1046 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Braten. Mrs. Bensyl was born in Urbana Township, daughter of August 
and Anna (Winkleman) Braten. Her father was a native of Germany 
and her mother of Switzerland, and they married after coming to America. 
The Bratens acquired a fine farm in Champaign County. Mr. Braten 
served as constable in Somer Township and for many years as deputy 
sheriff at Urbana. Mrs. Bensyl was one of nine children, all of whom were 
educated in the public schools. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bensyl after their marriage located in Urbana, where he 
took the management of some of the land owned by Mrs. Bensyl's father. 
Having the qualities of youth, industry and energy, they were soon making 
good progress and after farming the Braten estate for ten years they 
removed to Ogden Township and continued as renters in that section of the 
county for another twelve years. Their accumulations then enabled them 
to buy eighty acres of their own north of the town of Ogden, and this 
became their permanent home in the country. While the land had no 
improvements, they developed it rapidly, put up good buildings, set out 
trees, and left it a monument to their effective industry and husbandry. 

The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bensyl: Lulu, 
Amanda, Otis, Ora, Verna and Nora. From the first Mr. and Mrs. Bensyl 
appreciated the value of training and of education and sent their children 
to the Central School and so far as possible helped them to acquire a liberal 
education and fit themselves for positions of usefulness in the world. 
Amanda and Verna and Nora all became successful teachers and did their 
work in that vocation in Champaign County and also in Vermilion County. 
The good. they accomplished as teachers during all the years they spent 
in that vocation can hardly be estimated. Nora Bensyl received her first . 
certificate in 1916 and is engaged to teach the Cottonwood School in 
Urbana Township for the year 1917-18. Eighteen years ago the daughter 
Amanda attended the teachers examination at Danville and was awarded 
her first certificate. Then after teaching one year she was given a first 
grade certificate. The daughter Verna took the entire course of Brown's 
Business College at Urbana, becoming an efficient shorthand operator and 
also a typist and bookkeeper. The daughter Nora attended the high school 
at Ogden and later Mrs. Brown's Normal Training School for Teachers at 
Homer. She taught the Danforth School in Eaymond Township, near 
Sidney. In addition to her literary studies Miss Nora has been an inter- 
ested student of music under the direction of Professor C. L. Foster in 
his musical studio at Champaign. The daughter Amanda married Abner 
Silkey. Mr. Silkey was principal of the St. Joseph High School two years, 
and principal of the high school at Ogden two years. He is now a well 
known business man of Urbana, being cashier of the First Trust & Savings 
Bank. Mr and Mrs. Silkey have two children, Harriet and Mary. 

The Bensyl family have not been spared the visitations of death, and 
on December 2, 1916, the beloved son Otis passed away. He was a young 
man of much ability and had acquired a large circle of devoted friends. 
He married Ruth Hool. 

The son Ora is successfully managing his father's farm. By his mar- 
riage to Bessie Bradley he has three children, Mary Elizabeth, Vance 
Leroy and Ora. 

The daughter Verna is now the wife of Ora Hall, who is connected 
with the Standard Oil Company living at Ogden. The other two 
daughters, Lulu and Nora, are still at home with their parents. 

For the last two years Mr. Bensyl has been engaged in the operation 
of a livery business at Ogden. His methods of doing business have brought 
him a large patronage and he is a thorough business man. Mr. and Mrs. 
Bensyl are active members of the Prospect Christian Church at Ogden 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1047 

and in politics he is a Democrat. Progress has always been the keynote 
of Mr. Bensyl's career, and his industry has brought him success, while 
during many years he has had a good wife to establish the home and 
train their children and add to the many pleasant things for which the 
name Bensyl is noteworthy in Champaign County. 

Louis V. JXJEGENSMETER. In the community of Homer one of the 
names most significant of large business activities is that of Jurgensmeyer. 
Mr. Louis V. Jurgensmeyer has spent his life in that town and surround- 
ing community and it would be difficult to say in what one field his 
accomplishments are best known. He has been a merchant, has done much 
to develop Homer as a business town, but he is also an extensive farmer 
and stock breeder, and has some of the finest hogs found in this section 
of Illinois. 

He was born at Homer May 3, 1876, a son of William and Mary Eliza- 
beth (Hengst) Jurgensmeyer. His father was born at Logan and his 
mother at Lancaster, Ohio, and in 1869 they settled on a farm in Vermilion 
County, Illinois. His father was also a successful stock raiser and farmer. 
In 1900 the parents removed to Homer, where they spent their last days 
retired and where the father died January 13, 1907 and the mother Janu- 
ary 27, 1905. There were only two children, the older being Elizabeth, 
wife of C. A. M. Smith of Danville. 

Louis V. Jurgensmeyer had in addition to a common school education 
the two years course of Bryant & Stratton College at Chicago. He early 
showed business ability, and is one of the few men who can handle various 
interests capably and profitable. In 1902 he established a general depart- 
ment store in the Opera House Block at Homer, and conducted a large 
business in that location for six years. He has also built a garage in 
Homer, was formerly active in the automobile business and is the owner of 
several buildings in the town, including his handsome brick residence, the 
best of the village, which he erected in 1910. 

For a number of years Mr. Jurgensmeyer's time has been well taken 
up with his farming and stock raising. He makes a specialty of the 0. 
I. C. hogs and has over two hundred head of this registered strajn. His 
farming interests are operated on 525 acres in Vermilion County, and he 
also owns 160 acres in the Province of Ontario, Canada. 

Mr. Jurgensmeyer is a Eepublican, was formerly a member of the town 
board and is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks and attends the Methodist Episcopal Church. He 
married Miss Dollie May Palmer, a native of Homer, daughter of J. T. 
Palmer of that town. Mr. and Mrs. Jurgensmeyer have two daughters: 
Hazel Margaret and Marjorie Ellen. 

CHARLES W. DALE. Among the citizens of Champaign County who are 
carrying exceptionally heavy burdens and responsibilities is Charles W. 
Dale, editor of the St. Joseph Record, the Ogden Courier and the Pythian 
Herald. Mr. Dale is a newspaper man of long experience and splendid 
ability and has the valued services and counsel of his capable wife in the 
management of these papers. 

Mr. Dale was born at Mahomet, Illinois, a son of Thomas and Mary 
(Mead) Dale. His maternal grandfather Mead was the first superintend- 
ent of schools in Champaign County. 

Mr. Dale was educated at Mahomet, and on August 8, 1900, he married 
Miss Myrta Morehouse. She was also born at Mahomet, a daughter of 
Heber Judson and Laura (Abbott) Morehouse, her father a native of 
Michigan and her mother of Illinois. Mrs. Dale was educated in the 



1048 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Mahomet High School and before her marriage was a popular teacher, 
being connected with the Mahomet schools four years and also with the 
high school at Eantoul. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Dale located at St. Joseph, where 
he was associated with his brother as editor of the local paper. Later, in 
1904, he bought his brother's interest and has since conducted and managed 
the entire business with the assistance in recent years, of Mrs. Dale. 

Three bright young children constitute their family circle: Ralph 
Emerson, Virginia and Kent Morehonse. These children are all now 
attending the local schools of St. Joseph. Mr. and Mrs. Dale are active 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally he is affiliated 
with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Loyal Americans, 
the Pythian Sisters and the Eastern Star, while Mrs. Dale is active in 
both the Eastern Star and the Pythian Sisters, being past worthy matron 
and at present secretary of the Eastern Star. 

Mr. Dale has filled several offices which are indicative of the esteem 
in which he is held in the community. For two terms he was township 
supervisor and for thirteen years held the office of town and village clerk. 
He is known as a man among men and has built up a very successful 
journalistic enterprise. The three papers published at the St. Joseph 
office cover a large territory and have a combined circulation of 2,000 
copies. St. Joseph is fortunate in having these energetic people among 
its citizens. 

Mrs. Dale is a highly cultured woman and of most attractive person- 
ality. She is president of the Woman's Club at St. Joseph, an organiza- 
tion for both literary study and general social and public improvement. 
Mr. and Mrs. Dale are greatly interested in music. For a number of 
years he was instructor of bands at different places, while Mrs. Dale comes 
of a family of musicians. They have as a matter of course made music 
a feature of their home and in the training and education of their children, 
who take much interest in that study. Mr. Dale is also a composer of 
some popular airs. One especially worthy of note is a two-step march, 
dedicated to Company M, Fourth Illinois, which is pronounced by critics 
a fine piece of music. On the back of the copies is contained the names 
of members of Company M in Cuba. 

VAN B. SWEARIXGEN was at once one of the most successful business 
men and most honored citizens of Champaign County. His name is 
especially associated with the community of St. Joseph, where the best 
years of his life were spent. 

Mr. Van Swearingen was born in Adams County, Ohio, June 2, 1837, 
and died January 21, 1901. His father, Andrew J. Swearingen, was a 
native of Pennsylvania who early migrated to Ohio, where he married 
Mary Brady. From Ohio he brought his family to Illinois, first locating 
near Homer and afterwards a mile south of the village of St. Joseph. 

Van B. Swearingen was ten years of age when he accompanied his 
father to Illinois in 1847. He completed his education in the common 
schools of St. Joseph Township. He was fourteen when his father died 
and after that he lived with Benjamin Bartley until reaching his majority. 
Though he had little capital, he possessed that independence which made 
him willing to venture on his own account and success followed his efforts 
from the beginning. He first farmed as a renter, and also made an early 
beginning of buying and selling stock. He possessed natural gifts as a 
shrewd business man, and two years after he started out for himself he 
had enough capital to take his place in the ranks of business men. 

In 1863 Mr. Swearingen bought his first land near St. Joseph and for a 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1Q49 

number of years followed the business of trading in stock, a pursuit which 
he made remunerative and profitable. In 1870, with William Shreve as a 
partner, he engaged in merchandising and established the first store of 
the village of St. Joseph. That store was conducted on very successful 
business principles and soon became a popular and favorite trading place 
for all that section of the country. Though a merchant for many years, 
his natural inclination was for outdoor life and he always kept in close 
touch with the farming interests and grew stock and grain on a large 
scale. He was also an extensive grain buyer, and he made this feature his 
main business for many years. 

In 1861 he married Lydia Bartley, daughter of Benjamin Hartley. She 
died April 18, 1867, leaving one son, Mr. U. G. Swearingen, whose career 
is sketched on other pages of this publication. In March, 1871, Van B. 
Swearingen married Amanda Patterson, daughter of John K. Patterson, 
of St. Joseph. The only surviving child of that union is Mrs. Doctor Henry 
E. Davis of St. Joseph, the other daughter, Mattie, being deceased. 

The late Mr. Swearingen was an ardent Republican and gave a steady 
allegiance to that party from the time he cast his first vote for Lincoln in 
1861. He was a recognized leader in his township and his influence was 
instrumental in accomplishing many things that had a direct and vital 
relationship with the welfare of the community. In 1866 he was elected 
supervisor of the township. In his private business affairs his success was 
measured by the accumulation of over a thousand acres of farm land and 
much valuable property besides, but best of all he left behind a record of 
unimpeachable integrity and a large circle of friends among the best people 
of the county, all of them grateful for his associations and glad of the 
enviable record that clings to his name. 

A family that stands for the best in social life as well as representative 
of the industrial and business affairs of St. Joseph Township is that of 
Doctor and Mrs. Davis of St. Joseph village. Doctor Davis was for many 
years actively engaged in the practive of dentistry but gave up that work on 
account of ill health and is now looking after other business affairs in this 
locality. 

Doctor Davis was born in Mackinaw, Illinois, a son of Henry and 
Clara (Hittle) Davis. When he was a child his parents moved to Eureka, 
Illinois, where he spent his early years. He received his literary education 
in Eureka College, completing it in Ohio College at Cincinnati, where he 
took up the study of dentistry. He graduated in dentistry and also had 
practical experience in the office of Doctor Hoover of Washington, Illinois. 
In January, 1902, Doctor Davis married Miss Maud Swearingen, a native 
of St. Joseph Township and a daughter of Van B. and Amanda M. (Pat- 
terson) Swearingen. The Swearingens are prominent among the pioneer 
names of Champaign County. The Pattersons were among the very earliest 
settlers of Champaign County and did much through their aggregate efforts 
to make this one of the garden spots of the world. Mattie, a daughter of 
Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen, died at the age of four years. Doctor Davis 
and Miss Maud Swearingen were both students in Eureka College. She 
was taking special instruction in music there. They became acquainted as 
college mates and this acquaintanceship ended in a happy marriage. 

After their marriage they removed to Bloomington, Illinois, where 
Doctor Davis was in successful practice for nearly a year. On the request 
of Mrs. Davis' mother they located at St. Joseph, since the mother was 
lonely and desired her children with her. Doctor Davis then opened an 
office at the village of St. Joseph and conducted a large practice for some 
years. 

Mrs. Davis' mother joined her husband in the realm beyond in 1913. 



1050 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

They were splendid people and their lives were intimately associated with 
the good and welfare of Champaign County. They maintained a most 
hospitable home, and there are many kindly memories that follow them. 

Doctor Davis and wife still remain in the old Swearingen homestead. 
After giving up his active practice Doctor Davis changed his business and 
for the past three years has been an automobile dealer in St. Joseph and 
conducts a first class garage, with all the accessories for supplying auto- 
mobiles and with a skilled mechanic to make repairs. 

Doctor and Mrs. Davis have used their means to enjoy life. They are 
active members of the Christian Church and very liberal supporters, thus 
following the example of Mr. and Mrs. Swearingen, who did much to 
build up that institution in St. Joseph. Mrs. Davis has been a worshiper 
in the local church since early girlhood. Politically they are ardent 
Republicans, though Doctor Davis, like many other thinking men, espoused 
the progressive principles and followed Roosevelt during the campaign of 
1912. Fraternally they are active members of the Eastern Star and in 
1915 Doctor Davis served as Worshipful Master of the Masonic Lodge in 
St. Joseph. He has taken thirty-two degrees of Scottish Rite Masonry. 
Doctor and Mrs. Davis enjoy a beautiful home at the corner of Sherman 
and Main streets in St. Joseph, and this community is especially endeared 
to Mrs. Davis by associations from early girlhood to the present. 

. i. 

IRA H. DODSON. Among the families that have been identified with 
Champaign County for more than half a century are the Dodsons, repre- 
sented by Mr. Ira H. Dodson, who still has a portion of the old homestead 
in Urbana Township. 

Mr. Dodson was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, August 10, 1855, 
. a son of John and Elizabeth (McGee) Dodson. His father was born in 
Ohio and his mother in Indiana. In 1865 the Dodsons came to Illinois, 
locating in Urbana Township, where the father bought 192 acres of land. 
John and Elizabeth Dodson had two sons, Edward and Ira, and there was 
also a half brother, Henry Dodson, who served as a soldier in the Civil 
War. John Dodson was a notable character in Champaign County, where 
he lived for a great many years and where he died at the venerable age of 
ninety-two in 1908. He was one of the greatest wheat raisers in the 
county. His wife passed away January 16, 1917, aged eighty-two. 

Ten years of age when the family came to Champaign County, Ira 
Dodson grew up here and attended district school No. 4 in Urbana Town- 
ship. He remained with his parents, taking a helpful part in the manage- 
ment of the farm, and was a prosperous agriculturist before he married and 
set up a home of his own. 

March 13, 1889, Mr. Dodson married Miss Carrie Bell Slayback. She 
was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, daughter of Wilson and Mary 
Ellen (Vance) Slayback. Her father was a native of Ohio and her mother 
of Illinois, and Mrs. Dodson was one of five children. She was educated 
in the public schools of Indiana, at Dayton School No. 4. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Dodson settled down and began 
their wedded life on his father's homestead where he had spent his boyhood 
days. This homestead has received many pleasing improvements at the 
hands of Mr. Dodson. It is located on the Interurban Railroad, and while 
a country home it is accessible to all the advantages and conveniences of 
the city. 

Mr. and Mrs. Dodson are the parents of one daughter, Martha. She 
was educated in the home district school, where she spent eleven years, and 
then completed her literary training in the Urbana High School and also 
took musical instruction. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1051 

The lives of Mr. and Mrs. Dodson have been closely identified with 
Champaign County for many years, and their efforts have contributed to 
the fulfillment of the old scriptural phrase of making a former desert 
blossom as a rose. Mr. Dodson has many memories of the time when 
Champaign County was a region of raw prairie and swamp, and the present 
condition of the county has been accomplished largely through the miracle 
of drainage. 

The Dodson family located in Champaign County before the Big Four 
Eailway was constructed, and their first home was on the original farm. 
The old district school was near by, and subsequently the district was 
divided and a new schoolhouse built on Mr. Knox's land. Mr. Ira Dodson 
attended both of these schools. Among his early teachers the one best 
remembered by all the students was a Mr. Cunningham, who was dis- 
tinguished by the peculiarity of his costume, consisting of a calico gown 
and slippers. Mr. Dodson attended his last school in the high school at 
Urbana, under J. W. Hayes. 

Mrs. Dodson and her daughter are active members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. In politics Mr. Dodson has given his undivided support 
to the Eepublican party since he was able to cast his first vote. He has 
done more than merely vote and has used his public spirited efforts to 
forward the good things of the community. For six years he served as 
a director of the public schools and has always sought to make the local 
schools the best possible. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of 
Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America, and his wife is a member 
of the Royal Neighbors and the Pythian Sisters. Miss Martha Dodson has 
for years shown special interest in church affairs, her membership being 
with the Urbana Methodist Episcopal Church. Her working membership 
is just what is needed for every progressive church in the country. 

The industry of Mr. Dodson has brought him abundant success and 
he now enjoys a large and complete farm of 108 acres. Progress 
has been the keynote of his life and his well tilled fields are ample evidence 
of that quality. He is also a very systematic and orderly man in regard to 
his farm work, and everything is done just at the proper time and in the 
manner best fitted to accomplish results. 

His father, Mr. John Dodson, was for thirty years a successful mechanic 
in Indiana, being a blacksmith and wagon maker. He worked at his 
trade before the Civil War. Among other useful things which were made 
in his shop were the old-fashioned grain cradles. Mr. Ira Dodson has as 
one of his most prized possessions one of these old fashioned cradles made 
by his father. John Dodson also employed several hands in conducting 
his blacksmith shop in Indiana. His home was near a Dunkard settle- 
ment, and he made the old-fashioned buggies for the Dunkard people to 
ride in. It was many years before the Dodson family acquired their first 
self-binder for harvesting grain. Mr. Ira Dodson always associates the 
purchase of that modern farming implement with the year that General 
Coxey's army marched to Washington, D. C. The army marched past the 
Dodson home. One other notable procession went by the Dodson place. 
At the time of McKinley's inauguration a great horn, six feet across the 
bell, was made at Decatur, Illinois, and was carried past the Dodson place 
on the shoulders of six men. It was used in the great inaugural parade 
at Washington. 

After coming to Champaign County John Dodson gave his principal 
time and attention to farming. He was an excellent manager and at the 
time of his death possessed 214 acres. He had drained this land, had 
improved it with good buildings and with trees, and today it stands as a 
monument to his industry. When he made his will he directed that his 



1052 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

two sons, Edward and Ira, his sole heirs, should each choose a man, who 
in turn should choose a third, and this arbitration committee should divide 
the property equally between the sons. But wisely enough the two sons, 
working in complete amity and agreement, did the work of division for 
themselves and thus kept the entire matter out of court, avoiding any 
litigation or delay and much expense. 

CHARLES H. WALLACE. Among the ambitious young men who came to 
Champaign County some forty years ago with the intention of making 
it his future home and has proved his foresight and good judgment in 
making his selection was Charles H. Wallace, who needs little introduction 
to the people of Homer, which has always been his place of residence. His 
present position in the financial field places him among the capitalists of 
the state, his large possessions make him one of the great landowners. Mr. 
Wallace is a graduate of the agricultural department of the University of 
Illinois, and his vast agricultural operations are based on sound scientific 
knowledge. 

Charles H. Wallace comes of Scottish ancestry but of American parent- 
age. He was born at North Eidgeville, Lorain County, Ohio, November 

4, 1856, and is the second born son of William S. and Helen (Bryant) 
Wallace. The father was a farmer, later a manufacturer, and still later 
became identified with banking interests, being a man of great business 
enterprise. His death occurred at Trinidad, Las Animas County, Col- 
orado. The mother died at Elyria, Ohio. They were the parents of seven 
children, namely : James E., who is a resident of Cleveland, Ohio ; Charles 
H. ; Frances A., who is deceased; Nellie J., who is the wife of the Hon. 
F. R. Wood, of Trinidad, Colorado; and Lewis D., Margaret and Rosaltha, 
all of whom are deceased. 

When Charles H. Wallace reached Champaign County, Illinois, on 
March 26, 1878, he located at Homer and as farming was his object, he 
rented a tract of land and there put into practice the knowledge he had 
gained during his university course. As time passed he began to acquire 
land and still more land until now Mr. Wallace has sixteen hundred acres 
and these, under his intelligent methods, yield so abundantly that he is 
looked upon as an authority on all things agricultural. Mr. Wallace for 
many years has been interested in a number of banking institutions, and 
is an official in the Elyria Savings and Banking Company, of Elyria, 
Ohio; the Allerton State Bank," at Allerton, Illinois; and is vice president 
and a director in the First State Trust & Savings Bank at Urbana, Illinois, 
which he assisted to organize. 

The First State Trust & Savings Bank is one of the soundest financial 
institutions in the state. According to its statement at the beginning of 
business May 2, 1917, its resources are as follows: Loans and Discounts, 
$137,760.82; Overdrafts, $2,338.22; Banking House, Furniture and Fix- 
tures, $40,000.98; Other Real Estate, $7,800.00; Due from Banks, 
$61,928.80; Cash on Hand, $7,281.94. Total, $257,110.76. The liabil- 
ities are as follows : Capital Stock, $60,000.00 ; Undivided profits, 
$3,566.62; Deposits, $176.000.38; Certified Checks, $43.76; Bills Pay- 
able, $17,500.00. Total, $257,110.76. The officers of this bank are: S. E. 
Huff, president; C. H. Wallace, vice president; Harry Gardner, vice pres- 
ident; Abner Silkey, cashier; S. H. Busey, cashier; H. L. Ascher, assistant 
cashier. The board of directors is made up of the following capitalists: 

5. E. Huff, C. H. Wallace, Harry Gardner, Abner Silkey, S. H. Busey, 
F. E. Williamson, John Vedder, Joseph W. .Vedder, H. V. Cardiff, J. 6. 
Goodmann, L. F. Wingard. This bank was - authorized by the Secretary 
of the Treasury of the United States to receive subscriptions to the first 



J 




ANTHONY COYLE AND HIS FAMOUS WAR HORSE 
"CRUSHER" 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1053 

Liberty Loan and the bank handled these subscriptions without profit or 
commission. 

Mr. Wallace was married to Miss Effie 0. Core, the only daughter of 
Dr. James Core. She had one brother, Charles P., who is deceased. Mr. 
and Mrs. Wallace have had seven children, as follows : A son who died in 
infancy; Ealph C. J., who is cashier for the manufacturing firm of Lynn 
& Bowler at Stuttgart, Arkansas; Helen J., who is the wife of Howard 
Smith, of Sidney, Illinois; Lewis B., who is a teacher in the high school 
at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia; and Ruth, Julian and Irene, all of 
whom reside with their parents. 

In politics Mr. Wallace has always been a supporter of the principles of 
the Republican party. He has never accepted public office, as his many 
private interests have closely engrossed him, but he is a wideawake citizen 
and when necessary lends helpful influence in the right direction unof- 
ficially. For twenty-five years he has been on the official board of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church and its secretary during this time. The only 
fraternal organization with which he is identified is the order of Ben Hur. 

ANTHONY COYLE. With the lengthening perspective of years more and 
more honor is paid the participants in that struggle by which the Union 
was preserved and the liberty of all men assured in the United States. 
Only a handful of the survivors of this great struggle remain as a reminder 
to patriotism in Champaign County. Tihose who are familiar with his 
career say that Anthony Coyle was one of the bravest men Champaign 
County sent into the war. Mr. Coyle, after a life of honorable effort and 
service, is now enjoying the comforts of a pleasant country home a half 
mile north of Pennfield in Kerr Township. 

Mr. Coyle was born in Baltimore, Maryland, but has lived in Cham- 
paign County since 1854. He is a son of Martin and Mary Coyle, the 
former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Maryland. The names 
of their children were Mary, Ellen, Martin and Anthony. 

Anthony Coyle was fifteen years of age when he came with his parents 
to Illinois, and soon afterwards he found employment on Charles McHenry's 
farm near Urbana. He was twenty-one when the war broke out and he 
soon enlisted and marched to the sound of the fife and drum to defend his 
country's flag. He enlisted July 10, 1861, in Company I, Second Regi- 
ment of Illinois Cavalry, under Colonel John J. Mudd, for three years, or 
during the war. 

In the year before the outbreak of the war Mr. Coyle had gone to New 
Orleans on a business trip. While in that city he was at the St. Charles 
Hotel. He became a witness to an altercation between John J. Mudd, 
who was then a St. Louis commission merchant, and a group of hot-headed 
Southerners. Mudd expressed himself as loyal to the elected President 
Lincoln, declared that Lincoln had been elected by a majority of the people 
and not only ought to be President but the people ought to abide by the 
decision of the majority. For all this Mudd was derided as an Abolition- 
ist and his life was threatened. This scene occurred on the last day of 
December, 1860. It was the bold and fearless young Northerner, Anthony 
Coyle, who probably saved Mr. Mudd from the fury of the mob. He 
stepped in and showed such determination and vigor that the ardor and 
expressed intention of the mob to hang Mudd was somewhat cooled. By 
a strange coincidence when Mr. Coyle went into the army the colonel of 
his regiment was John J. Mudd. There always existed a warm friendship 
between the two men, and after the death of Colonel Mudd his grateful 
family wrote a special letter to Mr. Coyle, thanking him for the bold 
manner in which 'he had expressed his bravery in New Orleans. It was 

234 



1054 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

also while he was in New Orleans that Mr. Coyle first became acquainted 
with General Sherman, who was then serving as military instructor at a 
school at Alexander, Louisiana. 

Impressed by all he had seen and heard in the Southern city, and 
recognizing that secession was an imminent danger and that the Union 
was seriously imperiled, Mr. Coyle, hastily closing up his business affairs, 
came North and rode through Illinois on horseback to Chicago and over 
many of the counties, warning and arousing the people. In those early 
days he raised more men for enlistment than any other person. Some 
laughed at his fears, but he said, "Boys, this is no little play before break- 
fast; our country is imperiled." Eiding up to the home of Russell Kerr, 
who was stacking ihay with six men, he said : "Russell, our country is in 
danger, and every man is needed." He then gave him further facts as he 
knew them by personal experience. Mr. Kerr stuck his fork in the half- 
finished hay rick, remarking, "Boys, there will be no more haying until 
our Union is saved," and with all his men he enlisted and went to the front. 

The Second Illinois Cavalry went first to Fort Massac on the Ohio 
River, a month later to Paducah, Kentucky, and from there to Columbus, 
Kentucky, and the Second Regiment was among the first of the troops to 
enter and capture that town in March, 1862. At the time General Sher- 
man was at Cairo, Illinois, and did not arrive on the scene until the dashing 
Northerners had taken the city. The Second Illinois was soon ordered 
back to Paducaih, later returned to Columbus, and from there moved to 
Jackson, Tennessee. In the two severe engagements at Bolivar, Tennessee, 
on August 30, 1862, the Second Regiment lost all its officers. Mr. Coyle 
was one of the men who saved Grant's supplies at Bolivar on that day. 
He possesses a copy of the complimentary special field order issued by 
General Grant complimenting the Second Illinois Cavalry on its gallantry. 
It is said that this was the only time a general order ever paid special com- 
plimentary praise to an individual regiment. 

At Bolivar, when Colonel Leggett was ordered to charge the Rebel 
front, expecting to find 600, he found instead he had a force against him 
of 6,000. His men engaged in a hand-to-ihand conflict, fighting* six times 
their own number. Realizing the importance of reinforcements, the colonel 
detailed five of the cavalry to go meet General McPherson, who was slowly 
coming with artillery and infantry from Jackson, Tennessee. Anthony 
Coyle and his noted cavalry horse, Crusher, was one of these five men. 
Their orders were to ride for their lives as they valued the lives of their 
imperiled comrades. From the time they started they were constantly 
harassed by guerrillas and bushwhackers. Four of the horses tired out 
in that mad ride and their riders had to return to camp. Anthony Coyle 
was the only man who got through, delivering his orders to General McPher- 
son. He then returned, his brave horse carrying him on the round trip, 
three days and nights. All the world knows the result of the battle by 
which McPherson's troops saved the day. When Anthony Coyle rode back 
into camp a wild cheer went up from the boys in blue for- the horse and 
this brave rider. 

During the campaigns that followed the Second Regiment was contin- 
ually on the firing line and did much notable service in the campaigns 
around Vicksburg. Mr. Coyle was wounded five times and after the fall 
of Vicksburg was honorably discharged. In his last engagement he was 
shot through the body and remained for two days and a night on the battle- 
field while the other wounded were gathered into the hospitals. His 
comrades thought him past all human aid and therefore turned their atten- 
tion to others less severely wounded. He was finally put in a box car with 
the dead and dying and by that time the wound had festered and was 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1055 

filled with maggots. After being removed to hospital the wound was 
dressed, a silk handkerchief was drawn entirely through the body, and 
General Grant detailed two special nurses to watch over this brave and 
gallant soldier. Anthony Coyle has frequently been called the "minute 
man" of Champaign County. He was ever alert to warn the people of 
danger. At one time he was completely surrounded by Rebels who deter- 
mined to close in on him and put an end to his dashing career. To their 
surprise he headed his faithful charger, Crusher, down a steep embank- 
ment where it was supposed no man could walk. At the foot was a high 
fence, but Crusher never stopped at anything he could see over, and vaulting 
the fence he carried his rider to safety. There is in the home of Mr. Coyle 
an enlarged photograph, framed, showing him and his splendid cavalry 
horse Crusher. After his discharge from the army he bought his horse 
which had carried him through so many engagements, and Crusher spent 
his last years in comfort and ease in Champaign County. 

Mr. Coyle has as another souvenir of his war service a certificate of 
membership in the Lincoln Memorial Association. He was very active in 
the movement and had charge of raising funds for Lincoln's monument. 
Among other souvenirs Mr. Coyle possesses some Rebel envelopes and liter- 
ature and also the Rebel flag which he captured at Columbus, Kentucky, 
March 7, 1862. This is the noted "Bonnie Blue" flag, the theme of 
Southern song and story. The flag carries on the blue field a white star 
for every seceding state. The flag when it was captured was riddled with 
bullets. 

There is perhaps no man living today who was better acquainted with 
Abraham Lincoln than Anthony Coyle. During Lincoln's travels as an 
Illinois lawyer, following the movement of court from county to county, 
Mr. Coyle was frequently employed to convey the railsplitter from one 
point to another. At the time of the Lincoln and Douglas debate Mr. 
Coyle became so interested that he followed them around and heard several 
of the debates. Lincoln's earnestness and keen wit and knowledge of law 
made such a deep impression on his mind that today, after nearly sixty 
years, he can quote Lincoln's sayings almost verbatim. 

At the age of twenty-six Mr. Coyle laid the foundation for his own 
home by his marriage to Manda J. Cooder, daughter of John and Permelia 
(Edison) Cooder, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of North 
Carolina. When Manda Cooder was eight years of age her people came 
to Illinois and located in Champaign County. All the children except 
Manda and her brother William died in infancy. 

After his marriage Mr. Anthony Coyle rented land the first year and 
in time he was able to buy a place of forty acres, paying only $8 an acre, 
whereas the same land today is worth $250. His industry had its reward 
and later he acquired another tract of forty acres and has gradually devel- 
oped a farm sufficient for the needs and comforts of himself and his 
growing family. Mr. and Mrs. Coyle had one son and one daughter, Frank 
and Clara. These children they educated in the Penfield school. Frank 
also attended the University of Illinois, taking the mechanical engineering 
course, and he worked at his profession at Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, three 
years and afterwards was in the employ of the National Cash Register 
Company of Dayton, Ohio, being located at Cleveland, in Michigan and 
various parts of the West. He is a very successful man, and his active 
career has covered a number of years. At present he is at home assisting 
his father on the farm. The sister, Clara, is also still living with her 
parents. 

Mr. and Mrs. Coyle and family are active members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church at Penfield. In politics he is a Democrat, though he 



1056 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

cast his first vote for Lincoln. A public spirited man and always enjoying 
the confidence of his fellow citizens, he was elected supervisor of Kerr Town- 
ship, and has also served as a trustee of the local schools. Mr. Coyle is a 
member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
and he was instrumental in instituting the first Union League in this 
section of Illinois. For a number of years Mr. Coyle was entrusted with 
the management of the large Parsons estate farm and also the farm belong- 
ing to the Battles estate. 

Mr. and Mrs. Coyle have seen Champaign County develop from a 
primitive condition into one of the garden spots of Illinois. They have 
clone their part in life, have been attentive to the duties that lay nearest 
them, and besides the honor and credit that belong to his record as a valiant 
soldier Mr. Coyle has the esteem paid to the worthy and upright citizen at 
all times. 

HUGH GRAHAM. Coming to Illinois over half a century ago, a young 
and ambitious Irishman but with little capital except that contained in the 
resources of his individual character, Hugh Graham is living today in one 
of the most complete country homes of Champaign County, located in sec- 
tion 22 of Harwood Township. His wealth consists not alone in many 
broad acres, well- tilled fields and sleek stock, but in the riches of esteem 
paid him by a large community of friends and acquaintances, and even 
more in the capable and trustworthy sons and daughters who are still part 
of the family circle. 

Mr. Graham was born in County Monaghan in the Province of Ulster, 
May 22, 1844. He was the seventh of nine children born to Hugh and 
Sarah (McMahon) Graham. Mr. Graham obtained his early education in 
the National Schools of Ireland. This was a very satisfactory system and 
he attended throughout the year except for two weeks at Christmas, two 
weeks at Easter and the month of August. The school hours when he was 
a boy ran from 10 to 3 in the afternoon. 

He was about twenty years of age when, having heard of the wonderful 
opportunities of America and not being satisfied to live in a country bur- 
dened with British rule, he expressed his spirit of adventure by immigrating 
with relatives and landed at New York on October 25, 1864. A sister 
was already living in New York and a brother in Sangamon County, Illi- 
nois. 

On the 12th of December, 1864, Mr. Graham reached Macon County, 
Illinois. At that time most of central Illinois was a raw prairie and 
looked like a complete wilderness to the young Irishman who was accus- 
tomed to the fertile and closely tilled estates of Ireland. In Macon County 
he found work as a farm hand and remained there until 1869, and after- 
ward, as a result of well directed industry, bought some land in Champaign 
County, where at the age of forty he established a home of his own. 

Mr. Graham married in 1885, at Rantoul, Miss Johanna Murphy. She 
was born in Morgan County, Illinois, a daughter of William and Mary 
Murphy, natives of southern Ireland. Mr. Graham took his bride to the 
farm of eighty acres in section 22 of Harwood Township which he had 
previously purchased. For this land, the nucleus of his present handsome 
estate, he paid $37.50 an acre, and that was considered a very high price 
for land at the time. Mr. and Mrs. Graham had the requisite qualifica- 
tions of industry and thrift, and they made these qualities count until at 
the present time their possessions embrace 520 acres of as fine land as can 
be found in the State of Illinois. They have been satisfied not with crops 
alone but have expressed their energies in numerous improvements that add 
to the attractiveness and value of their possessions. 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1057 

The best part of the entire record is that pertaining to the children. 
Eight sons and two daughters have come into the home, the names of 
these sturdy young people being William A., Hugh D., Sarah, John J., 
Arthur, Margaret, Tom C., Edward, Francis Paul and Joseph Leo. From 
the first Mr. and Mrs. Graham have furnished the young people every 
incentive at home and every advantage in the local schools. The children 
all attended the Harwood Center district school. William completed his 
education in Brown's Business College, while Hugh and Tom were students 
of St. Viator's College at Kankakee. John and Arthur were also students 
at St. Viator's. Sarah completed her education in St. Mary's school at 
Champaign, Margaret studied at the Sacred Heart Academy in Springfield, 
Francis attended the Donovan Memorial School at Rantoul, and Joseph is 
still in the Harwood Center school. Not only did the older children wisely 
improve the advantages of schooling given them by their parents, but they 
have put their education to good use and have ably assisted the father in 
the management of the farm. The son William A., who married Catherine 
Kirk, is a practical farmer living on some of his father's land in section 
12 of Harwood Township. Mr. Graham has been liberal in extending 
opportunities to his sons and has done all he could to get them located 
near by and as sharers in the prosperity which his capable efforts have won. 

The family are all active members of the Catholic Church at Ludlow. 
Mr. Graham is a stanch Democrat in politics and has served in such posi- 
tions as town clerk, collector and school trustee. As a farmer his place 
is known not only for the quantity but for the quality of its products. 
Last year his land produced 8,800 bushels of oats and 6,400 bushels of 
corn. In the way of stock he raises Polled Durham and Shorthorn cattle 
and fine horses of the Percheron and Shire breeds. His progressiveness as 
a farmer is well attested by his fields and the systematic management of 
the farm in every detail. Mr. Graham through his experience is in a posi- 
tion to appreciate the wonderful changes that have come over the country. 
He recognizes the value of improved machinery, and he also knows that 
the character and industry of 'the man is the chief factor in any worthy 
success. There was no thought in the early days of germs or danger lurk- 
ing in drinking water. Today, as he enjoys the pure water that comes 
from deep wells, he looks back and wonders how the people lived and 
prospered. All the many other inconveniences he endured without mur- 
mur, such as lack of roads, which at certain seasons of the year were 
almost bottomless, and lack of drainage also made some of the most fertile 
lands of Champaign County useless for agricultural purposes. The history 
of the Graham family is a real factor in the development of Champaign 
County. Mr. and Mrs. Graham have successfully exerted their efforts to 
make their farm and home attractive for their children, and the young 
people have found their permanent interests here rather than in the more 
superficial life of the large cities. 

MRS. MABT A. TAYLOR has for many years had her home in Champaign 
County, and is now living on the old homestead farm at Penfield in section 
30 of Kerr Township, where with the aid of her son she is carrying on the 
farm management left in her hands after the death of her husband. 

Mrs. Taylor is a native of Dundee, Scotland, and a daughter of John 
and Jean (Davidson) Rennie. She grew up in Scotland and received an 
education in the schools of that country. After reaching young woman- 
hood she married Mr. C. B. Taylor, also a native Scotchman and a son 
of. John and Helen (Gordon) Taylor. While they lived in Scotland Mr. 
and Mrs. Taylor had four children : Jennie, John, Mary and Helen. 

At different times they thought and talked much of the land of America 
and Mrs. Taylor was especially influential in urging her husband to leave 



1058 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Scotland and seek the opportunities of the New World. Thus the little 
family embarked on a vessel, the Venetian, a ship which later went down 
in South American waters. They landed from this boat at Boston, and 
went from there to Chicago, where Mr. Taylor, a butcher by trade, found 
employment in the great Armour packing plant which was presided over 
by that genius of the packing industry, the late P. D. Armour. Mr. and 
Mrs. Taylor lived for many years at Chicago. While there other children 
were born, named Annie, Charles E., Jennie, Alexzina, Gordon and Rennie, 
the last being twin sons. Of these Annie, Jennie and Rennie are deceased. 
From Chicago Mr. and Mrs. Taylor moved to Gifford in Champaign County, 
where he engaged in the butcher business until his death in 1894. Mr. 
Taylor was a fine business man, an industrious worker, and his citizenship 
meant much to any community where lie lived. After coming to Cham- 
paign County he had bought eighty acres of land and he also bought fifty 
acres at Penfield. 

After the death of her husband Mrs. Taylor bravely faced the duties of 
life, her twin boys being then only four months old. Her daughter Mary 
married Elmer F. Henry and they live on a farm in Iowa. Helen Taylor 
married S. A. Smith, a railroad contractor living at Chicago, and her three 
sons are named Walter, Edward and Samuel. Alexzina is the wife of 
Albert Mauser and they live on a farm near Rantoul and have two children, 
Fern and John. Charles R. Taylor is a railway employe and married 
Maud Schultz. 

In addition to rearing her own children Mrs. Taylor has carefully looked 
after the training of her grandson, James R. Croger, a son of Mrs. Helen 
Smith. Her life has been devoted to the welfare and training of her 
children and they have in many ways repaid the debt they owe such a 
brave and conscientious woman. Mrs. Taylor is an active member of the 
Episcopal Church at Rantoul and in politics she is a stanch Republican 
and has reared her children in the same faith. Her motto has always 
been America for Americans, and while thoroughly patriotic she is not con- 
vinced of the wisdom of having American sons serving in foreign countries 
under a foreign flag. 

Her son Gordon is one of the able younger citizens of Champaign 
County and is the successful manager of the home farm. He is an admirer 
of good horses and other live stock, and his well kept fields are a splendid 
proof of his ability in agriculture. 

EDWARD BUTZOW, a resident of St. Joseph Township for a long period 
of years, has had a career that challenges admiration and respect. It has 
the solid basis of industry and is crowned by a success of his own achieving, 
won by the strictest regards to honest principles and integrity of character. 

Mr. Butzow is one of the sturdy sons of the fatherland who in such 
numbers came to America in early years, poor in cash but with ambition 
and energy. He was born October 23, 1839, at Walkendorf in Mecklenburg 
Schwerin, son of Ernest and Sabina (Brosaman) Butzow. Ernest Butzow 
lived on a farm owned by a German nobleman, and about eighty families 
altogether had their home there. Ernest Butzow was employed as teacher 
of the community school, and at one time had 120 students, being their 
only instructor. Edward was one of four children, three sons and one 
daughter. He first attended school under his father and later at the town 
of Tessin, and finally completed his education by private instruction. 

While in Germany he served an apprenticeship at agriculture, but in 
that vocation he could see no future except as a tenant or farm manager, 
and therefore at the age of twenty-five, in the fall of 1864, he set his face 
for the land of America, where his two brothers had already preceded him. 
He had been encouraged to make the journey by enthusiastic letters from 





/ 







HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1059 

these brothers. He took ship at the city of Hamburg, and after a number 
of days of voyage landed at New York. The following winter he spent at 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was employed on construction of Gov- 
ernment gunboats for use in the Civil War. He next went to Oil City, 
Pennsylvania, and was employed as an oil driller. In 1865 Mr. Butzow 
arrived in Iroquois County, Illinois, where he worked at making railway 
ties. In the fall of 1865 he joined his brother Louis at Urbana. Louis 
was engaged in the brewery business at Urbana as partner of some other 
parties who were not distinguished for scrupulous honesty and were rapidly 
getting the better of Mr. Butzow's brother. He finally lost nearly all 
his capital and was compelled to take the $300 that remained to his credit 
in notes of the brewery with the understanding that he should buy enough 
beer to cancel the account. In this dilemma he set up as a retail liquor 
dealer, and employed his brother Edward as salesman. Edward Butzow 
saw so many unpleasant things connected with the business that he soon 
became disgusted, and though very poor and without extended opportunity 
he refused to have anything to do with the liquor trade. Early experiences 
make strong impressions, and it is noteworthy that from that day to this 
Edward Butzow has been one of the strongest and most determined oppo- 
nents of the liquor traffic and there is no truer friend of the temperance 
cause anywhere in the country. It should be remembered that fifty years 
ago, when he became aligned with the temperance people, liquor manu- 
facture and liquor selling were accepted as a matter of course and there 
was no general public opinion against the traffic. Thus through all these 
years Mr. Butzow has been a nucleus in that gradually enlarging movement 
which now happily promises to destroy the liquor evil for all time to come. 

After this early adventure at Urbana Mr. Butzow bought a half interest 
in a shingle mill. The mill turned out a fine grade of shingles. These 
were cut in blocks, boiled in water and cut into shingles, but the business 
was not profitable. He then turned over his share to his partner, and after 
that bought forty acres in section 27 of St. Joseph Township. Here he 
established a brick yard, making brick for one year and the following year 
engaged in the manufacture of tile. He was really in advance of his time 
as a tile manufacturer, since land owners had not yet learned to appreciate 
the value of subsurface drainage by means of tile, and in a short time he 
found himself bankrupt and burdened with a large debt of $1,150 after 
selling all his land. When he had solicited a local merchant for financial 
aid in the tile business, Mr. Butzow assured his creditor that he would see 
that he incurred no loss by the venture. He made good his word, though 
it took five years of hard, steady and heavy manual toil at ditching to pay 
off his note of $1,150 and its accumulating 10 per cent interest. It was 
an honest debt, and Mr. Butzow could not rest until it was paid, and he 
has always looked back upon that transaction as one of the most satisfactory 
in his entire career and furnishing him more pleasure than even the 
abundant possessions which he now enjoys. 

One incident occurred in the life of Mr. Butzow which he always called 
"Two seconds from death." While in Germany, he was working with 
another man in a "marl pit," a mixture of clay and lime. They were 
working under a great undermined embankment of earth. Observing a 
boy driving up to it with a blind horse, he stepped out from under it to 
caution him, when the props gave way and the entire embankment fell, 
burying his companion. 

In 1874 Mr. Butzow was elected town clerk of St. Joseph. While look- 
ing after the duties of that office he took up the study of law in a practical 
fashion. He was possessed of a good education, was a good talker and man 
of experience, and there being no lawyer in the community, he carried on 



1060 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

a considerable practice, especially in drawing up legal documents and per- 
forming such other services as have popularly been denominated as pettifog- 
ging- 

In the meantime Mr. Butzow bought 120 acres of land in section 2 
north of the village of St. Joseph at a price of $20 an acre. He went to 
work clearing it up and cultivating it, saved every dollar he earned, and 
gradually was in a fair way to the success which later years and labors 
assured him. 

In 1880 Mr. Butzow married Miss Lenna E. Cross. She was a native 
of Ohio. Mr. Butzow took his bride to his farm of 120 acres, and together 
Ihey laid the foundation of a good home. It was improved with substan- 
tial buildings, with the planting of trees and other improvements, and in 
1892 Mr. Butzow sold to advantage and subsequently bought the magnificent 
place of 440 acres which he still owns in section 34 of St. Joseph Township. 

Mr. and Mrs. Butzow have four children', one of whom died in infancy. 
The other three are Louis James, Edward Charles and Clara Bertha. Mr. 
Butzdw saw to it that they had the advantages of the local district schools 
and also the high school at Sidney. Louis subsequently graduated from 
the University of Illinois in the technical course and is now an electrical 
engineer in Chicago. He has made a splendid record for himself, and 
enjoys a good position and has an ideal family life. He married Louisa 
Hermison, and their two children are named Mary and John. The son 
Edward C. is a practical farmer and manages his father's estate in section 
34. He married Zora Rudisell, and their family consists of three sons, 
Harold, Gleason and Darnel. The daughter Clara, after graduating from 
the Urbana High School, took a bookkeeping course in a business college 
at Chicago, and is now the wife of Oliver Plummer, a successful teacher of 
Champaign. Mr. Butzow has given each of these three children eighty 
acres of land, and Mrs. Clara Plummer is now preparing to move to her 
farm. 

In 1900 the death angel visited the Butzow home and took away the 
good wife and mother, leaving Mr. Butzow with his three young children. 
In 1905 he married for his present wife Mrs. Jennie Eeese, who was born 
in St. Joseph Township, a daughter of Henry and Catherine (Argo) 
Reese. Her people were pioneers in Champaign County. Her father was 
a native of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Butzow was educated in the district 
schools, and was left fatherless and motherless at an early age. For several 
years she Was employed as a housekeeper in the family of Mr. Butzow until 
their marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Butzow have five young children, Grace, 
Waldo, Ruth, Marshall and Gladys. 

Politically Mr. Butzow is an ardent Republican and has supported that 
party first and last ever since casting his first vote in America. He and 
his wife are regular members of the Christian Church at Tipton. It is 
certainly with pardonable pride that he may look back upon his career in 
Champaign County. He overcame much in his early experiences, as already 
noted, and having paid every obligation and every honest debt, it is with 
unusual satisfaction that he enjoys the fine estate which has grown and 
accumulated under his enterprise and which furnishes a splendid home for 
his later years. 

A. F. MEUSER has been a resident of Illinois and the greater part of 
Champaign County for fully fifty years, and his labors long since became 
so productive as to enable him to live in retirement. He and his wife now 
have a large and comfortable home in Rantoul, on Grove Avenue. In earlier 
years they worked hard, were content with simple comforts and necessities, 
and were willing to sacrifice many things in order to secure a home, rear 
their children properly, and have a competence for their later years. In 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1061 

all this they have succeeded, and they deserve the respect and honor paid 
to hard working and excellent citizens. 

Mr. Meuser was born at Garz on the River Oder, Germany, one of the 
seven children of John D. and Minnie (Bishof) Meuser. When he was 
three years of age his mother died, and his father subsequently married 
again and came to America. 

Mr. A. F. Meuser was twenty years old when he came to this country 
in 1867, in company with his brother Frederick. They landed at New 
York, went west to Chicago, and from there A. F. Meuser journeyed to 
Minonk, Illinois, where his married sister, Fredericka Westermann, lived. 
He found employment with his brother at the carpenter trade, and subse- 
quently engaged in farming. 

In 1875 Mr. Meuser laid the foundation of his own home by his mar- 
riage to Fredericka Bermaum. She was born in the village of Voigstdorf, 
Germany, a daughter of Gustave and Sophia (Casdorf) Bermaum. The 
Bermaum family and also the parents of Gustave and Sophia came to 
America, and Grandfather and Grandmother Casdorf died and were buried 
in Champaign County. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Meuser started farming on a place 
three miles northwest of Rantoul. It was prairie land, eighty acres, 
which Mr. Meuser's father had bought from the Illinois Central Railway 
Company in 1868. They paid $12 an acre for it, though now it is worth 
many times that sum. Mr. Meuser knows full well the condition of Cham- 
paign County fifty years ago. Much of the land was raw prairie, there 
were numerous sloughs filled with water a large part of the year, and in the 
swampy section wild game abounded, especially water birds, geese, ducks 
and cranes being counted by the thousands. Mr. and Mrs. Meuser began 
housekeeping in a small place fourteen by twenty feet. One compensation 
for such small quarters in the estimation of Mrs. Meuser is that in those 
days she was not troubled with extensive house-cleaning operations. This 
couple possessed the qualities of German progressiveness, energy and econ- 
omy, they worked diligently, and were always buoyed up with hope of the 
future and by the widening opportunities of life in the New World. 

Into their, home there came in time three children, William, Gustave 
and Rosa. The daughter died at the age of twelve years. The children 
were educated in the Ludlow Center school. This school was three miles 
away, and frequently the roads were very bad, but the children went back 
and forth every day. 

In the meantime Mr. Meuser found opportunity to add to his posses- 
sions, bought small tracts of land from time to time, and finally found 
himself possessed of a full half section, which he still owns. 

Both of his sturdy sons married sisters, daughters of 'John and Lena 
Blue, a well known Champaign County family. William Meuser married 
Alma Blue, and their three children are Minnie, Herman and Gertrude. 
Gustave Meuser married Jane Blue and has four children, Augusta, Albert, 
Rosa and John. William Meuser is a successful farmer in Ludlow Town- 
ship, a mile and a half from Rantoul, and Gustave does his farming in the 
same township. 

Mr. and Mrs. Meuser- are active members of the German Lutheran 
Church, and their sons were confirmed in the same faith. In a public way 
Mr. Meuser has always done what he could to promote the public welfare. 
He served three terms as drainage commissioner, was a member of the 
town council at Rantoul three years, and one year was mayor. He takes 
a broad-minded view of politics and government, and believes that the man 
rather than the party is chiefly entitled to support. Mr. and Mrs. Meuser 
are loyal Americans, and have reared their sons with the same sturdy prin- 
ciples which have guided their own lives so prosperously. Mr. and Mrs. 
Meuser have lived in the town of Rantoul for the past eighteen years. 



1062 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Among their old family possessions is a book which for age is probably 
the oldest in Champaign County. It was published 400 years ago, and is 
a collection of sermons of German Lutheran Evangelical preachers. This 
book was the property of Mr. Meuser's stepmother. She so prized it that 
she requested it to be buried with her. At the time of her death the family 
hunted diligently but were unable to find the volume. Later, when it was 
found, the pastor of the church told them not to worry since the book was 
of more value above ground than in the grave. Mr. and Mrs. Meuser 
also have a book of hymns which was published fully 100 years ago. 

NORMAN C. HOYT has spent the best years of his life in one of the rich 
agricultural districts of Champaign County, has become prosperous from 
his handling of the soil and its crops, has reared a capable family, and has 
many reasons to be well satisfied with the retrospect that he can now con- 
template while living at his beautiful old home at the north end of Main 
Street in the village of St. Joseph. 

Mr. Hoyt was born in St. Joseph Township, June 6, 1863, son of 
James N. and Sarah (Hoss) Hoyt. His father was born at Moreau, Sara- 
toga, New York, May 20, 1824, of Scotch ancestry. His parents were 
Nathan and Lucretia (Stevenson) Hoyt. Her father was pressed into 
service on the British side in the Revolutionary War, but was captured 
and fought on the American side. Sarah Hoss was born in Brown County, 
Ohio, January 1, 1825. Her paternal grandfather came from Germany 
and was a soldier in Washington's army. James and Sarah Hoyt were quite 
early settlers in Illinois. Sarah Hoyt came to this state in 1836 with her 
mother and two brothers and sister. The mother entered forty acres of 
Government land on Salt Fork Creek in Champaign County and that 
land has continued in the family possession to the present day. James N. 
Hoyt and wife had two sons, George and Norman. George is also a resi- 
dent of St. Joseph, but spent thirty-seven years of his life in the West. 

Norman Hoyt acquired his education in the district schools of St. 
Joseph Township and at the age of twenty-two he married Miss Mary E. 
Walker. She was born in Indiana, a daughter of Joseph R. and Cath- 
erine (Young) Walker. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt began 
housekeeping in his father's old home, and the place where he was born 
and reared. Later his parents removed to the village of St. Joseph, and 
Norman and wife continued to live on the old homestead for twenty years. 
To their marriage were born nine children: Dolly E., Anson J., 
Minnie E., Ralph W., Ealy N. and Nealy G. (twins), Mildred C., Sarah L. 
and Zella E. Mr. Hoyt was very much concerned with the education of 
his children, and sent them to the public schools of the township and 
also to the high school at St. Joseph village. The son Anson J. is a 
farmer on the old homestead and by his marriage to Rosa Sinks has four 
children, Rolla, Robert, Leon and Charles. The daughter Dolly married 
Fred Roney, and at her death she left one child, Forest, and there was 
one that died in infancy. Ralph W. Hoyt lives in Minnesota. Minnie E. 
is the wife of Frank M. Jones, a resident of Champaign County. The son 
Ealy Hoyt is one of the young volunteers from Champaign County for the 
liberty war, and has enlisted in the artillery service, in Battery B, Third 
Infantry, and is at present located at Houston, Texas. Mr. Norman Hoyt 
has an interesting relic of Civil War times in the form of a bond issued 
July 11, 1864, drawing 6 per cent interest for three years. His brother 
George has a similar bond for $100, a 5 per cent issue for five years. 

A number of years ago Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt moved with their family 
to the state of Kansas, where he bought land and was engaged in farming. 
While living in that state the death angel visited the home and on Decem- 






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RESIDENCE OF NOKJIAN C. HOYT 




ISTomiAN C. HOTT AND JULIA E. HOYT AND CHILDREN 



HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1063 

ber 21, 1909, Mrs. Hoyt passed away. Left with the care of his young 
children Mr. Hoyt then returned to Champaign County and on the old 
homestead adjacent to St. Joseph village built the fine residence which 
he still occupies. In 1910 he married Mrs. Julia Etta (Clements) 
Appling. She was the widow of John H. Appling, and by that marriage 
was the mother of three children, William J., Grace C. and George E. 
Appling. William Appling was educated in the high school at Urbana, 
graduating in 1917 at the age of seventeen, while the other two children 
are still pursuing their studies in the local high school. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hoyt have one child, James C., now six years of age, and just beginning his 
educational preparation. Mrs. Hoyt's mother, Mrs. Julia (Kirby) Clem- 
ents, was born where the Blackberry Schoolhouse now stands in Champaign 
County. At the age of eight years she went with her parents to Wisconsin 
in a covered wagon. She now lives in Urbana, at the age of eighty-two 
years, with faculties well preserved. 

For many years Mr. Hoyt has been a successful grain and stock farmer. 
His industry has met with pleasing success and one of the best fruits of 
it all besides his fine family is the beautiful and attractive home in North 
St. Joseph. As a background to his residence there is a dense wood of 
large elms and oaks which has stood there for generations, and Mr. Hoyt 
wisely held on to his inheritance of Champaign County soil and has always 
honored and appreciated the county where he was born and where his 
efforts have been most productive in the world's work. 

Mr. Hoyt's mother passed away March 26, 1905, and his father joined 
her on August 8, 1911. They were among the highly respected residents 
of Champaign County. The father died in Kansas. 

Mr. and Mrs. Norman Hoyt are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, of which Mrs. Hoyt is a member. In politics he is a man of broad 
views and principles and interested in the man rather than the party. In 
many ways he has exemplified his public spirited interest in the local 
welfare and has been especially concerned with the maintenance of good 
schools. He served as director of District No. 1 for several years. Mr. 
and Mrs. Hoyt have endeavored to rear their children with utmost care and 
with a training that would make them loyal to their country and fitted for 
all the duties of citizenship. 

Mr. Hoyt has always taken special interest in the breeding of good stock, 
and his farm contains some as fine Belgian horses as are to be found in the 
country. One fine imported mare is Lisa Baron (98467) 3788, imported 
by Finch Brothers, November 16, 1913, sired by Fleurin (14928), he by 
La Fleur (8616) dam Olga Baron (14605). Other noted animals are: 
Gravenelle, 3785 (98475), was imported in 1913; sire, Certain (31606), 
by Bienvenu (13292), out of Vitesse (42675); dam, Louise De Reves 
(76871). Gavenejle has taken first premium in a two and four horse 
team and in a six-horse team in the International show at Chicago. Mr. 
Hoyt also owns some fine Hereford stock, among them Flora Donald IV 
(348400), Miss Gipsy Maid II (496972), and he has recently added fifteen 
more fine registered Herefords. These animals are a fine acquisition and a 
valuable asset to the county. 

JESSE NEWTON DICK. The communities which do not have the pro- 
portion of intelligent retired farmers, many of whom are capitalists, as 
residents lack an element that may be one of great importance. The 
farmer's life leads to thought and contemplation and a man who through 
his own toilsome efforts can acquire a competency and retire to enjoy it 
while yet in middle life must be possessed of excellent judgment, which 
should be a valuable addition to community life. He should be a man 



1064 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

with clearer views concerning many things and more able to give sensible 
advice and offer practical suggestions in regard to the everyday problems 
that have to be settled when interests clash, as they do in congested sections 
contrasted with the larger freedom of country life. In the pleasant town 
of Philo may be found fine examples of the retired farmer who have 
become exceedingly useful members of this community, and one who was 
held in general esteem was Jesse Newton Dick, who was called from this 
life on the 10th of August, 1917. He lies buried in the Maharry Cemetery 
near Wingate, Indiana. 

Jesse N. Dick was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, December 7, 
1857. His parents were Eli H. and Jane P. (Maharry) Dick, the former 
of whom was born at Baltimore, Maryland, August 15, 1822, and the latter 
in Indiana, February 10, 1829. They came to Champaign County in 
1878 and settled on a farm in Philo Township which Mr. Dick had 
purchased in 1876. He carried on the usual agricultural industries here 
during the rest of his active life, and died at Philo January 30, 1897. 
His widow survived for many years afterward, her death occurring at 
Philo September 15, 1915. Of their three children, one son and two 
daughters, all are now deceased. The daughters were Ellen and Emma. 

Jesse N. Dick attended the public schools in Indiana and was a student 
of De Pauw University for two years. In 1878 he accompanied his parents 
to Champaign County. In 1879 he began his farming operations on the 
homestead and continued to reside in Philo Township, where he owned 320 
acres of fine land. He moved then to the village and in 1910 built his 
handsome modern residence, one of the finest in the place and a model 
of comfort and convenience. 

Mr. Dick was married April 15, 1879, to Miss Harriet Emily Luse, 
who was born in Montgomery County, Indiana, and is a daughter of Jacob 
and Charlotte (Martin) Luse. The father of Mrs. Dick was born in 
Pennsylvania and the mother in Ohio. They had the following children: 
Rhoda A.,- who is deceased ; Belinda, who is the wife of J. Bottenburg, a 
farmer; Amos M., who lives at Waynetown, Indiana; Harriet Emily, who 
is Mrs. Dick ; Albert, who is a resident of Lebanon, Indiana ; and Estella, 
George W. and William, all of whom are deceased. 

Mr. and Mrs. Dick had two daughters: Pearl, who is the wife of Mark 
Maddux, of Wingate, Indiana ; and Elma Jane, who is the wife of W. H. 
Hickman, of Paris, Illinois. Mr. Dick was quite prominent in Democratic 
politics. 

HENRY ROSCOE SHADE is a graduate of the agricultural department of 
the University of Illinois, and since that time has applied his efforts suc- 
cessfully to farming in Champaign County. He has mixed the correct 
proportions of science, brains and practical experience in his work, and as 
to his success his fine farm in Somer Township, his standing and position 
in the business and civic community, can testify better than words. 

Mr. Shade was born in Dale Township of McLean County, Illinois, 
November 1, 1880. He is a son of John K. and Anna (Bower) Shade, 
both of whom were Pennsylvanians. His father came out to Illinois 
about 1874, locating on a farm in McLean County, and living there until 
his death on June 2, 1896. His mother passed away on the 18th of March, 
1898. Henry R. Shade was their only son. He has one sister, Imogene, 
wife of Charles A. Shoults, of Detroit, Michigan. 

Henry R. Shade was sixteen years of age when his father died. He 
had in the meantime attended the country schools, and had acquired con- 
siderable knowledge of farming on the home place. Subsequently for four 
years he worked on the farm and at the same time attended the Blooming- 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1065 

ton High School, from which he was graduated in 1900. Mr. Shade has 
had considerable business experience as well as association with farming. 
For three years after leaving high school he traveled, handling household 
specialties. Largely with such money as he was able to acquire by his 
own efforts he entered the University of Illinois and pursued the agricul- 
tural course from the fall of 1903 until his graduation in 1907. The 
vacations he had utilized as an employe of the International Harvester 
Company. He traveled for this company as salesman and collector in the 
states of Iowa and Illinois and also in Canada. 

On December 24, 1906, Mr. Shade married Mary Thornburn, a native 
of Urbana. After graduation from the University of Illinois in 1907 Mr. 
Shade and wife went to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and resided there until 
January 1, 1908. While there Mr. Shade was employed by the Inter- 
national Harvester Company. In the spring of 1908 the young couple 
located on Mr. T. B. Thornburn's farm six miles north of Urbana, where Mr. 
Shade had ample opportunity to demonstrate his ability as a farmer and 
the value of his university course. They remained there until the spring 
of 1914, when they removed to Mr. Shade's own farm of 100 acres in Somer 
Township. His farm lies in sections 16, 15 and 20. Mr. Shade made 
considerable profit by raising seed corn, and he also specializes in the 
Duroc hogs and Holstein cattle. Besides his Illinois farm, which is a 
model place, Mr. Shade owns 320 acres in the Province of Alberta, Canada, 
and also 170 acres in Owen County, Indiana. 

He is secretary of the Somer Township Telephone Company, has been 
township supervisor two years, being chairman of the printing and sta- 
tionery committee and a member of the buildings and grounds committee 
of the board, and for a number of years he has been director and president 
of the local school board. He is a Eepublican, a member of the Presby- 
terian Church and affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks. 

Mr. and Mrs. Shade have two children : Genevieve Frances, born April 
26, 1908, and Richard Norman, born April 15, 1912. 

PATRICK BRENNON was for many years identified with the community 
of Ogden as a stanch and reliable merchant, a citizen who was never 
negligent of his responsibilities and duties, and altogether completed a 
well rounded life of activity and service. 

A native of Dublin, Ireland, where he was born in 1844, he came to 
America at the age of fourteen. He had limited advantages in his youth, 
and by sheer force of will and determination gained a substantial position 
in the world. He lived in New York State for a time and then came 
west and located in Vermilion County, Illinois. He went from that county 
into the ranks of the Union army and three years after his honorable dis- 
charge in 1868 he laid the foundation of his own home by his marriage to 
Miss Cornelia Terrell. 

Mrs. Brennon, who is still living at the old home in Ogden, was born 
at Georgetown, Illinois, and grew up and married there. Her parents 
were .William and Artemesia (Douglas) Terrell, the former a native of 
Ohio and the latter of Kentucky. Artemesia Douglas' family was related 
to that which gave Illinois and the nation the great figure of Stephen A. 
Douglas. 

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Brennon came to Ogden, which was 
then a small hamlet consisting only of a postoffice and a general store. 
Mr. Brennon taught school for several years here and also in the Fair- 
mount school. The young people bought a home at Ogden and, possessing 
youth, industry and energy, they were not long in establishing themselves 



1066 HISTORY OP CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

permanently. For some time Mr. Brennon was passenger agent for the 
I. B. & W. Eailroad, and at the same time extended his activities to the 
buying and shipping of grain. He did that on a commission basis, but in 
course of time his success enabled him to branch out as a buyer for J. W. 
Leney. He had splendid native business ability. His first independent 
effort was the establishment of a grocery store at Ogden, and as his trade 
increased he added other departments until he supplied all the general 
merchandise required by that community. Merchandising was the business 
to which he gave all his later years, 

He was very young when he responded to the call of patriotism and 
enlisted with other boys from Vermilion County at Georgetown in Com- 
pany C of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry. He took 
part in a number of notable engagements, and for three years followed the 
flag as a gallant soldier. After his discharge and in later years his 
sympathies were always with his army comrades, and it gave him the 
keenest pleasure to gather with them at reunions. He continued to attend 
those assemblages of the old soldiers as long as his health and strength 
permitted. 

Mr. and Mrs. Brennon were the parents of two children, a son and 
daughter, William and Wintress. The name of the daughter was selected 
by her father. Eealizing the advantages of a good education, Mr. and 
Mrs. Brennon supplied their children with the best facilities of the home 
schools and of outside institutions. William took his preparatory work in 
the Methodist Academy at Danville, a branch of the Illinois Wesleyan 
College, and afterwards completed the regular course of the Wesleyan 
University at Bloomington, where he graduated in law. He made a splen- 
did record as a student and for a time after his graduation was associated 
with Judge Benjamin in his office at Bloomington. Later he joined Mr. 
J. B. Mann, one of the prominent attorneys of Danville, and Mr. Mann 
desired that the young man should accompany him to Chicago. At that 
time young Brennon realized .that his father needed him to assist in the 
local business, and an arrangement was made whereby the son assumed 
many of the responsibilities connected with the conduct of the store at 
Ogden and entered a partnership with his father. William Brennon mar- 
ried Miss Mary Louise Whitzell, of St. Joseph village. Four children have 
been born to them, Jessica, Virginia Terrell, named for her grandmother, 
Mary Elizabeth and Dorothea Patricia. These constitute a fine group of 
young people, the joy and comfort of Mrs. Brennon. 

The daughter Wintress Brennon after finishing the course of the public 
schools at Ogden entered the famous St. Mary of the Woods school near 
Terre Haute, Indiana, and then for six years was a student of the Uni- 
versity of Illinois. She graduated in the literary and art department in 
1914 and in 1917 completed the course of the Library School. She is a 
thoroughly trained and graduate librarian and has recently accepted the 
post of branch librarian at Gary, Indiana, where her duties began Sep- 
tember 1, 1917. 

In the fullness of years and in the fullness of accomplishment as a 
business man and citizen Patrick Brennon passed away August 19, 1913. 
He was long regarded as one of the most reliable business men of Cham- 
paign County, and possessed many other excellent traits of character, so 
that his memory is secure. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Brennon 
has continued to live in the old homestead at Ogden, with her daughter 
as her chief companion. The Brennon family have long been identified 
with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Ogden. In politics the late 
Patrick Brennon was a Republican and was affiliated with the Masonic 
Order, the Order of Palm and Shell, and was an honorary member of the 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1067 

Eastern Star, in which Mrs. Brennon is an active member. Long before 
his death Mr. Brennon was made happy in the realization that his son 
would continue the business, and today that fine old establishment is con- 
tinued at Ogden under the capable management of William Brennon. 

ALONZO 0. MORRISON. One of the families that was established in 
Vermilion County, Illinois, in the early '40s and has ever since been 
a representative agricultural one in east central Illinois bore the name 
of Morrison. This branch of the family was of pioneer stock in Ohio and 
doubtless can trace its far back ancestry to Scotland. The leading repre- 
sentative in Champaign County is Alonzo 0. Morrison, a highly respected 
resident of Homer, Illinois. 

Alonzo 0. Morrison was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, November 
17, 1859. His parents were James Perry and Harriet A. (Sterns) Morri- 
son. The father was born in Ohio and the mother in Virginia. When 
they came to Illinois James Perry Morrison secured land from the govern- 
ment, and this land he developed and his subsequent life was devoted to 
general farming and stock-raising. He was a man of sterling character, 
just in all his dealings with his neighbors and generous to his children. 
His death occurred in 1888. His widow survived until 1894. They were 
the parents of the following children : Elijah, who is a resident of Homer, 
Illinois; James, who died in infancy; Alonzo 0.; Jasper, who died in 
childhood; Florence, who is the wife of J. M. Boggess, of Homer; and 
Harland P., who resides at Homer. 

Alonzo 0. Morrison attended the public schools and remained at home 
assisting his father. When he was twenty-seven years old he took charge 
of a farm of 120 acres that his father had given him in Vermilion County, 
on which he carried on farming for two years and then sold advantageously 
and bought 1 a part of the old homestead and still owns eighty acres of the 
original land that his father secured from the government some seventy 
years ago. To the above purchase he added others, and continued his 
agricultural operations in Vermilion County for eleven years. In 1907 
Mr. Morrison came to Homer and since then has been dealing in Belgian 
and Percheron horses. 

Mr. Morrison was married March 24, 1886, to Miss Elizabeth Clutter, 
who was born in Vermilion County, Illinois, and they have one son, 
Howard Monroe, who is associated with his father in the horse business. 
The family home is a fine, modern structure of brick which stands in a 
pleasant part of the town. Mr. Morrison and family are members of the 
Presbyterian Church. In politics he is a stanch Republican. For many 
years he has been a member of the order of Knights of Pythias. Mr.. 
Morrison is numbered with the solid, substantial and dependable citizens 
of Homer. 

GEORGE W. FENIMORE. After half a century of almost uninterrupted 
peace and prosperity America is again at war, and in this condition the 
people appreciate more than ever the splendid services and devotion of 
those brave boys in blue who defended the Union at the time of the Civil 
War. That war made America a great and united nation, unexampled 
in resources and material achievement, and there is a direct logical con- 
nection between the victories of the Union troops on Southern battlefields 
fifty years ago and the present great world struggle, when America, by 
lending its resources and soldiers to war-stricken Europe occupies the 
dominant position in the world's affairs and can practically dictate the 
terms on which national life everywhere shall be reorganized on a basis 
of permanent democracy. 



1068 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 

Hence there is every reason to refer gratefully to the soldiers of our 
own Civil War, and pay tribute to the guardians of the nation in those 
critical times. One of them in Champaign County was George W. Feni- 
more, proprietor of the Fenimore House of Sidney. After a long life of 
arduous labor and industry he spent his declining years with the tender 
devotion and care of his wife and daughters, and answered the final 
summons of death on October 29, 1917. 

George W. Fenimore was born in Randolph County, Indiana, February 
22, 1842, a son of Pierson and Eliza Fenimore, both natives of New 
Jersey, of English descent. His parents came to Indiana at an early day, 
and were married in that state. Pierson Fenimore was a well known road 
contractor and spent a useful, industrious career. 

Second in a family of five sons, George W. Fenimore, at the age of 
twenty-one, volunteered at Indianapolis in Battery A of the Fourth Indiana 
Light Artillery. This battery was sent south, first to Nashville, Tennessee, 
where it participated in one of the struggles of the war, afterwards did 
guard duty at Murfreesboro, and was in service in that part of Tennessee 
until the close of the struggle. Only by change of plans was Mr. Fenimore 
deprived of the privilege of accompanying Sherman on the great campaign 
from Atlanta to the sea, and he has always regretted that he could not 
have taken part in that glorious campaign. He was mustered out of 
service and given his honorable discharge at Indianapolis on August 1, 1865. 

He then went back to his old home in Indiana, but in the fall of the 
same year came to Champaign County, Illinois, and joined friends at the 
town of Sidney. September 18, 1866, he married Miss Catherine Morgan, 
who has been his faithful companion and sharer of joys and sorrows over 
half a century. Mrs. Fenimore is of German and Irish descent and a 
daughter of Job and Susan (Shrigley) Morgan, both natives of Virginia. 
From Virginia they moved to Ohio, locating near Zanesville, where her 
father became a farmer. Mrs. Fenimore was fifth in a family of five sons 
and three daughters, all of whom were educated in the public schools of 
Ohio. The Morgan family finally came to Sidney, Illinois. 

At the time of their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Fenimore located on 
a farm eight miles southwest of Sidney, near Linn Grove, and began the 
cultivation and improvement of an almost raw tract of 160 acres out 
on the broad prairie. They had the courage and enthusiasm of young 
people and made some additions to their prosperity during the five years 
they spent in that district. Later they bought eighty acres and remained 
on and cultivated that farm for seven years. On selling it they bought 
a place near Fithian in Vermilion County, and after making that their 
home for nine years removed to Sidney and bought the property then 
known as the Black Hotel. For thirty years Mr. and Mrs. Fenimore 
conducted this as a model country hotel, under the name Fenimore House, 
and they enjoyed a prosperous business and rendered a splendid service to 
all who were entertained within their gates. 

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Fenimore, three sons and 
five daughters, Alice, William, Otis, May and Minnie, twins, Elizabeth, 
Anna and Charles. The oldest son William was taken away from the 
family circle at the age of eleven years. From the first the training 
and education of these children were matters close to the hearts of Mr. and 
Mrs. Fenimore, and they sent the children regularly to the public schools 
of Fithian and Sidney. Anna became a student of the Normal School 
at Danville, Indiana, and for several years was a successful teacher in 
Champaign County. She then married Frank Freeman, and was the 
mother of two children, Lucile and Carl. Mrs. Freeman died when these 
children were still young, and both of them were then taken into the home 



HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1069 

of their grandparents and have received their utmost devotion and affection. 
Both are now students of the public schools of Sidney. 

Otis Fenimore married Pearl Mansfield and they reside in Oklahoma 
City, where he is successfully engaged in the automobile business. They 
have two children, Alma and Robert. Otis Fenimore made a splendid 
record when a young man for his industry. He began his career as a 
telegraph operator at Sidney, and possessing good and thrifty habits some- 
what later removed to Oklahoma and invested his capital in land. He 
became cashier in a bank at Lambert, Oklahoma, where he remained six 
years, and then removed to the capital of the state and engaged in the 
automobile business. May Fenimore married Arthur Busey, who is in the 
brokerage business in Oklahoma City. Their three children are Elsie, 
George and Roy. Charles Fenimore is engaged in farming near Salt Lake 
City, Utah, where he and his wife, whose maiden name was Florence Towne, 
reside. Their one child is named George. 

The three remaining daughters, Alice, Elizabeth and Minnie, remain 
at home with their mother and their presence is a constant source of 
comfort to her. By their loving and tinselfish devotion they have done 
much to smooth out life's pathway, and have repaid in a generous measure 
some of the parental love and watchful care bestowed upon them as children. 

The Fenimore family are active members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Politically they give their allegiance to the Republican party. 
Mr. Fenimore was one of the charter members of the Grand Army Post 
at Sidney, was active in its organization and for years served as com- 
mander of the post. 

In addition to the above, compiled from .material while he was living, 
it is fortunate that an estimate of this valued old citizen of Sidney can be 
published as written in the words of a friend. With some repetition, it 
will serve to complete a well rounded account of his life. 

Again the Lord of battle has given command, taps have sounded and 
another "boy in blue" has been "mustered out." George Washington, son 
of Pierson and Eliza Fenimore, was born February 22, 1842, near Hunts- 
ville, Randolph County, Indiana, and died at his home in Sidney, October 
29, 1917, aged seventy-five years, eight months and seven days. He was 
the second of five sons, three of whom grew to manhood. His early life 
was spent in the Indiana home and not unlike the boyhood of other boys. 
Facilities for school were meager in those days, and he attended a subscrip- 
tion school that was opened in the vicinity. When the Civil War broke out 
it was his intention to enter the army. Twice he applied for admission, 
but not having the required chest expansion was rejected. He was deter- 
mined to overcome this disability and did. He enlisted in Company A, 
Fourth Indiana Light Artillery at Indianapolis early in 1864 and served 
until the close of the war. He started with Sherman on his famous march 
to the sea, but was cut off by General Hood at Murfreesboro. Mr. Fenimore 
was not in the thick of this battle, but did valiant and commendable service 
in caring for the dead and wounded. It was always with enthusiasm that 
he recalled these war experiences, and great was his pride that he had 
given service to his country in its time of need. He received his honorable 
discharge at Indianapolis, August 1, 1865. 

In October of that year he came to Illinois and made his home with 
relatives the family of Richard Bloxsom near Sidney. On September 
18, 1866, he was married to Miss Catherine Morgan. The early years of 
their married life were spent on a farm near Lynn Grove. In 1879 they 
disposed of this farm and purchased land near Fithian, where they lived 
until 1887 when they removed to the present home. The "Fenimore House" 
has become a landmark in and about Sidney, and its genial host will be 

235 



1070 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGX COUNTY 

sadly missed, not only by the residents of this community, but by a large 
traveling public. Mr. and Mrs. Fenimore were accorded a happy privilege 
in the celebration of their fiftieth wedding anniversary on September 18, 
1916. Mr. Fenimore is survived by the widow and the following children : 
Otis and Mrs. Mae Busey of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Charles of Salt 
Lake City, Utah; and Alice, Minnie and Elizabeth at home. Two grand- 
children, Lucile and Carl Freeman, have lived in the home since infancy, 
and one of Mr. Fenimore's great desires was to be spared to see this girl 
and boy able to care for themselves. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Other 
grandchildren left are : Elsie, George and Boy Busey, and Alma, Robert 
and George Fenimore. Two brothers, Edward and Samuel, live at Rock- 
ville, Missouri. One son, Willie, died in 1880 while the family lived near 
Fithian, and a daughter, Anna, died at home October 1, 1907. 

Sidney Post G. A. R. has lost a stanch and loyal member. This 
comrade, who has gone, was very proud to wear the little brown army 
button, to give service to the soldier living and to do honor to the soldier 
dead. Memorial Sunday and Decoration Day in Sidney will not be the 
same with Mr. Fenimore away. He was converted and united with the 
Methodist Church in Fithian. His chief thought was always for others, 
and he enjoyed having his family and friends about him and he did gladly 
for them all that he could. All during his long and painful illness he was 
patient and grateful for everything that was done for him. He had a firm 
belief in an all-wise God and a life eternal, and repeatedly gave assurance 
that "all is well." For 

"He who marks the sparrow's fall 

Knows where each hero lies, 
And humble blood for justice shed, 

By Him is not despised; 
And when in the last reveille 

The dead ranks throng about, 
Foremost among the just shall stand 

These soldiers mustered out." 

WILLIAM J. QUINLAN. Any list of the big farmers and land owners 
of Crittenden Township would include the name of William J. Quinlan. 
Mr. Quinlan has been a resident of Champaign County for nearly half a 
century, and he used the generous rewards of his agricultural labors here 
to extend his investments to several states. 

Mr. Quinlan was born near Covington, Kentucky, March 15, 1856, a 
son of Daniel and Margaret (Harty) Quinlan. Both parents were born 
in Ireland. His father came to America in 1847, locating in Kentucky. 
In June, 1856, a few weeks after the birth of William J., the family 
moved to Illinois, locating in Peoria county, and in 1868 they came to 
Champaign County, locating in section 20 of Crittenden Township. 
Daniel Quinlan was a man of marked prosperity and industry. He died 
at Tolono, Illinois, in 1899. His widow is still living in Ohio, at the 
advanced age of ninety-two. They have six children : Margaret, who died 
in infancy ; William J. ; John, who died in childhood ; Bridget, wife of 
Frank Hesler, of Ohio ; Mary, who died in 1891 ; and Ellen, wife of 
W. J. Reinhart, of Ohio. 

William J. Quinlan has always lived close to the old home, grew up 
and received his education largely in Champaign County, and after reach- 
ing manhood his father gave him as a start eighty acres. The passing 
years have brought notable increases to his holdings and he is now the 



HISTOEY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY 1071 

fortunate possessor of 560 fertile acres in sections 20 and 29, Crittenden 
Township. He also owns a farm of 320 acres in Iowa and another place 
of eighty acres in the State of Ohio. Mr. Quinlan has made his prosperity 
as a general farmer and stock raiser and hard work and intelligent man- 
agement have been the keynote of his career. He is a director of the 
Farmers and Merchants Bank at Pesotum and has also been a prominent 
figure in public affairs in Crittenden Township. Four years he served as 
assessor, as collector fourteen years, and was a director of the local schools 
for thirty-five years. Mr. Quinlan is a Democrat and a member of the 
Catholic Church. 

He gets his daily delivery of mail from rural route No. 46 out of 
Tolono. On April 23, 1879, Mr. Quinlan married Mary A. Eyan, a 
native of Ohio. Eight children have been born into their home : Margaret ; 
John T., deceased; James E., at home; Nellie; Mae; William T. ; Joseph- 
ine C. ; and Daniel Francis, deceased. These children were liberally edu- 
cated and Mae and Josephine C. are successful teachers. 

JOHN EUSSELL STEWART. As a citizen who for many years was closely 
identified with journalism and local affairs in Champaign County, the 
people of this section feel a corresponding interest in the personality and 
career of John Eussell Stewart. As supervising editor of this publication, 
the publishers feel that this interest should be gratified by the inclusion 
of a brief personal biography. 

He was born on his father's farm in Butler County, Pennsylvania, 
November 6, 1840, a son of William and Eliza Jane (Gibson) Stewart, 
who were both of direct Scotch-Irish descent. Mr. Stewart received his 
education in the local public schools and private academies, grew up on 
his father's farm, and at the age of eighteen qualified for work as a teacher 
and was in the schoolroom in that capacity for four terms. 

Coming west in 1863, he found work in the public schools of Scott 
County, Iowa. In the same year he had volunteered his services to the 
Union army in the Civil War, but was rejected on account of defective 
eyesight. After four years in Scott County, Iowa, he moved to Tama 
County, and became superintendent of schools at Toledo, the county seat. 
In 1868, he was elected superintendent of the Tama County public schools 
and filled that office until the time of the Chicago fire in 1871. 

As early as 1860 Mr. Stewart became deeply interested in politics and 
for more than half a century has actively championed the principles 
of the Eepublican party as writer, as speaker and as local campaigner. 
While in Iowa his active work in politics led to a connection as one of the 
owners of the Eepublican newspaper published at the county seat of Tama 
County. Soon after the great Chicago fire in 1871 he was called to the 
Milwaukee Sentinel and made telegraph editor of that paper. In 1875 
he removed to Quincy, Illinois, as solicitor and associate editor of the 
Quincy Whig, and in 1881 assumed the desk of night editor and editor's 
assistant on the Illinois State Journal at Springfield. Mr. Stewart was 
connected with the Illinois State Journal for ten years. 

On January 1, 1891, he became editor of the Champaign Gazette, then 
owned by the late Henry H. Harris. Ten years later Mr. Stewart, with 
E. C. Flanigan and 0. L. Davis, bought the Gazette and incorporated it. 
Mr. Stewart became president of the company and editor in chief of the 
paper, and was actively identified with the enterprise until about 1911, 
when he retired and practically gave up all active newspaper work. 

He was four times elected president of the Illinois Eepublican Editorial 
Association and was an influential member of that organization until the 
close of the campaign of 1904. Since early youth his church association 



1072 HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGX COUNTY 

has been with the Presbyterians. On December 27, 1868, at Clinton, Iowa, 
Mr. Stewart married Adella M. Morris, daughter of Anson L. and Maria G. 
Morris. Their only child is John Starr Stewart, who in 1908, at Springfield, 
married Alice Mary Mclntyre, and this marriage has given Mr. and Mrs. 
Stewart a granddaughter, Alice Adella Stewart. 



I 

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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 



A STANDARD HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY I